Irish Chess Union Annual General Meeting
Significant changes to the funding and organisation of the Irish Chess Union were put forward to the meeting by the ICU Executive Committee. Tony Beckett and Mark Newman attended on behalf of the Ulster Chess Union.
In relation to funding, the proposal was for a standard ICU Membership Fee of £10, plus a tournament rating fee of £2 per player per event. An amendment was carried to delete the additional tournament rating fee from the proposal, and the proposal as amended then read:
"That the Membership Bye-Laws be amended to incorporate a different fee structure:
A standard fee of £10 collected as follows:
(i) from league players via their provincial union before 1st December each season;
(ii) from tournament players before their first tournament game;
(iii) from others (e.g. overseas players) directly to the ICU."
The motion was carried. This means that the ICU AGM adopted the Membership Fee structure approved by the UCU at its AGM in June 2000.
The proposals in relation to a new organisational structure, amending Articles 7 and 8 of the ICU Constitution were passed by the meeting. These will come into effect for the 2001/2002 season. There will be a new two-tier administrative structure.
The ICU Executive Committee has been slimmed down from 14 members to 9 and will comprise 4 members elected at the ICU AGM to the posts of Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, plus 5 nominees from the 4 provincial Unions, and the Junior Sub-Committee. It will concentrate mainly on policy issues.
There will be a new Operations Sub-committee (chaired by the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee) whose members will also be elected at the ICU AGM. Elections will be for specific posts such as Tournament Director, Development Officer, PRO and Chairman of the International Selection Committee. Also on the Sub-committee will be the delegates from the BCAI and ICCA. It will deal with mainly day-to-day administrative matters.
