Dear Members
Following a Board meeting held on 2 May, it was agreed that the Board will regularly update you with news on what is happening that you may or may not have heard about.
There was disappointment before Ballindenisk International when many combinations could not get their final MER qualifications because the weather had cancelled six national events. The Rules Committee met and discussed this in detail, and it was agreed those athletes who were qualified but did not have their 6 month MER were allowed to run if they had a qualifying MER within the last 12 months. This was an exception ONLY for Ballindenisk International 1. The 6 month MER rule stands for the rest of 2023.
As you must appreciate, MERs are there for safety reasons. Those who did not meet the MER requirements were unfortunately not able to compete. Please remember MER stands for Minimum Eligibility Requirement! What you may not be aware of is the hard work that went on behind the scenes to try and get a venue to run mid-week, which sadly didn’t happen. We would like to thank those organisers and Board members who tried to make it work.
Those of you who attended the AGM in February will be aware of several action points that the Board agreed to undertake.
The first is an independent review commissioned by the Board to review the Sports Capital Grant awarded to us to supply cross country fences to our venues. The review should be concluded in the coming weeks.
The second is the Board’s commitment to produce a 5 year Strategic Plan. This is now underway with an aggressive goal to finish in August. The intention is to invite all members to have their say either in person, via Zoom or a survey. This is your Society and your sport, so your input is vital to move us towards our goal. Now is the time to have your say. More information will be published on the website shortly.
Finally, the Constitution is also being reviewed, as is the move from being a Friendly Society to a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG), which is more conducive to a sporting organisation such as ourselves. Members will have the opportunity to discuss the new Constitution as part of the Strategic Process which will be overseen by the Governance Committee who are responsible for maintaining the Constitution, Policies, Procedures and all things Governance of Eventing Ireland.
The Board and management is working very hard to make our sport better and we would like to thank you for your continued commitment.
