As you know our AGM is on Wednesday 25th October at 730pm. You can register to join us on Eventbrite.
AGENDA:
- Welcome
- Treasurers Report
- Chair’s Report – followed by a personal statement.
- Discussion of Future of London Irish LGBT Network as per statement sent by committee.
- Election of officers
- Chair
- Treasurer
- Committee
- Follow-up + next actions
- Any Other Business
For Clarity and Transparency:
Our Committee sent our paid membership an email which contained the following. For ease of reading, the statement can be found in full here.
Our Constitution can be found here
If you have any questions or matters you would like to raise at the meeting please email londonirishlgbtnetwork@gmail.com
London Irish LGBT Network
Statement from committee members to AGM 2023
We, members of the London Irish LGBT Network committee (excluding the Chair) would like to bring the following points to the attention of the members:
– our current Chair has indicated that they cannot commit to another full year in the role and would therefore not stand for re-election at the forthcoming AGM;
– the committee notes that the recent progress of LILGBT Network in improving our profile and reputation, culminating in the very successful embassy Pride reception in July, has been mostly due to our current chair whose network, knowledge, skills and resourcefulness have been deployed to maximum effect for the Network since assuming office in 2020.
– however, currently no other committee member wishes to stand for Chair nor is there any known potential candidate for Chair who is active in the Network and familiar with our operations;
– the shift to primarily online activities, interspersed with occasional in-person events has allowed us to increase our reach and participation levels and has also significantly broadened the nature and scope of what we can cover in these events and the committee would strongly like to maintain this mix of activities if the organisation can be sustained;
– some key aspects of the constitution of the LILGBT Network no longer reflect the way we operate and would require some updating, in any case, if the organisation is to continue;
– there will be a need to provide some forward clarity about our organisation to continue to secure our modest but important donor funding and it is essential that a Chair is in place to ensure all appropriate fiduciary responsibilities to members and donors are fully discharged;
– in the light of the absence of a credible candidate for Chair, the most obvious path is to dissolve the organisation: that would require some management to ensure proper procedures were followed in winding up the finances and any other obligations but more significantly, it would dissipate the significant presence and momentum of the Network, that has been so painstakingly hard-won, and deprive us of the activities and events that have been so enjoyable and useful;
– notwithstanding this, the committee members would oppose and vote against any nominee for Chair or other officer roles, particularly Treasurer, that we did not feel confident had the understanding or commitment to perform the required tasks;
– meanwhile our current Chair has made us aware of their ambition to establish an organisation with potential national reach for the Irish LGBTQ+ diaspora in the UK, an ambition significantly enabled by the ability to now organise events virtually, and this development is of significant interest to the committee and we believe would also be of interest to the wider Network membership and beyond.
Given all of the above factors, members of the committee will propose the following motion should no candidate achieve election for Chair at the AGM:
That the term of the incumbent chair, officers and committee of the LILGBT Network be extended for 3 months from the date of this AGM to allow them to develop a comprehensive proposal* on how to move forward with the Network, which will be brought before the membership for their consideration at an EGM of the network to be held before the end of this 3 month period.
*The proposal would consider all practical options to sustain London Irish LILGBT Network including, but not necessarily limited to, affiliation or absorption by another organisation such as a new organisation for the Irish LGBTQ+ diaspora in the UK with national reach, enabled by online organising. Even in this scenario, it would be expected that we would continue with specific in-person events like St. Patrick’s Day parade, Pride and the embassy reception though this would then be part of a wider network of such activities.
The constitutional impact of any proposal would be considered and elucidated as part of this remit as would obligations to donors and paid-up members.
If no practical consensus can be reached among the committee, the proposal may well be to wind up the Network and how this can be accomplished while honouring all of our commitments.
Yvonne Devine, Treasurer
Andrew McTiernan, Secretary
Ed Magee, Committee Member
Aaron McCarter, Committee Member
Daniel Carry, Committee Member
If you have any questions or matters you would like to raise at the meeting please email londonirishlgbtnetwork@gmail.com
London Irish LGBT Network 