Earlier this week the Board of Scouting Ireland announced the expulsion of three senior volunteers and the restriction on membership of a fourth. Click here for the text of the announcement.
We are informed of the resignation of one member of the Board apparently in relation to the manner in which the Board was proceeding on that matter. Click here for the text of his statement.
The four have issued a statement. Click here for the text.
There has been coverage in the media, here are some of the articles.
https://www.irishtimes.com Feb 9th
https://www.independent.ie Feb 9th
Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell, who was Chair of the Committee on Children and Youth Affairs from 2016 to 2020, appears to think that Scouting Ireland can now “draw a line in the sand” https://www.irishtimes.com Feb 8th
While Labour’s Spokesperson Sean Sherlock is reported to have called on the Minister to “interrogate” the issue of the expulsions https://www.rte.ie Feb 9th
It would appear that the Irish Times has received further information since yesterday which gave rise to this article https://www.irishtimes.com Feb 10th
It is not the norm on this website to comment on articles, but in posting this information, it must be said that those named may take issue with some of the details presented in this morning’s article. It must also be noted as a concern that it seems that quite detailed and specific information has been made available to the Irish Times since their article of the 9th.
On an item of detail, this morning’s article refers, amongst other things, to the actions of two of the four in relation to possible conflict of interest at a meeting of the CPMT. The author of this post is not setting out to defend the four, it would seem from their statement that they will undertake that for themselves. However in the interests of fairness, it must be pointed out that that there was a policy in place on how NMC/ Board members should respond to possible Conflicts of Interest, you can read a copy of it Here. In light of what is reported this morning one would wonder if the Barrister was aware of this policy during her investigation.
