Mountaineering Ireland’s 2024 Annual Report is available online here.
It was held as an online meeting, hosted from Mountaineering Ireland’s office at Irish Sport HQ, Dublin. It was chaired by the Chair of the Board of Directors, David Pollard. There were fifty-seven voting club members present representing forty-four clubs. There were also six individual and honorary members present.
The Chairperson, David Pollard, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone in attendance, confirming there was a quorum and explaining the voting procedure. As there were no motions put forward for this AGM the standing orders were taken as adopted and the minutes of the 2023 AGM held on May 28th, 2024, were approved by the voting members.
Chairperson’s address
David Pollard presented a summary of some of the key activities and outcomes of 2024, under the headings Our organisation; Supporting participation; Our Mountains and Competition climbing. Read the full Chairperson’s Address in the 2024 Annual Report.
The AGM granted full membership to the aspirant clubs:
Gabhair Dall - Burren Climbing Club
Kickham Walkers
Trail Criú
Trail Criú Munster
Viatris Hiking & Adventure Club
Mary McGrath, Board member and Chair of the Finance Audit & Risk (FAR) Committee presented the financial statements for 2024 highlighting the following points:
- Unqualified Audit Opinion, with no audit issues arising
- Net deficit for 2024 of €7,892
- Deficit is covered by Reserves
- Revenue Reserve at year end 31 December 2024 is €200,194
- During 2024 the Board approved an amendment to the Reserves Policy to combine the Revenue and Special Reserve and conduct a formal review of reserves levels every two years.
Mary also presented details and graphs on Income Analysis, 2024 vs 2023 Income, 2024 Sport Ireland Grants, 2024 Member Services Income, Expenditure, 2024 vs 2023 Expenditure and Administration Expenses 2024. This information is all contained in the 2024 Annual Report in the Financial Statement section.
Delegates were given the opportunity to raise questions on the financial statements, after which they were adopted by the meeting.
OSK Chartered Accounts were appointed as Auditors for 2025.
Mountaineering Ireland’s CEO Liam Feeley presented the Safeguarding and Anti-Doping Statements.
Mary McGrath, Ravit Yanay and Trish Walsh were elected as ordinary members to the Board of Directors of Mountaineering Ireland.
Rita Connell, President of Mountaineering Ireland, thanked David, Mary, Liam, Siobhán and staff of MI for hosting and supporting the AGM. She also thanked the club and individual members for attending. She thanked Liam and all the staff for their hard work and congratulated them on a successful year for MI. She expressed her appreciation to David as Chair and all the Board members for their hard work and giving of their time to the organisation; her thanks to committee chairs, committee members and all the volunteers who work on behalf of and representative MI. And finally, she expressed many thanks to Dave Ayton and Alistair Wilson, who have come to the end of their term on the Board, for all their work and contribution on the Board over the past three years.