Draft New Constitution of An Taisce

As Honorary Secretary I would like to apologise for the cancelled EGM in February, to consider the draft Constitution.

It had not been the practice of An Taisce to include a proxy form with the agenda for General Meetings in the letters sent to members. I became aware that this is requirement in the new Companies Acts a short time before the meeting. I reviewed the situation with the other officers of the charity and the company solicitor and we decided that we had no option but to reschedule the meeting. We emailed all members and endeavoured to contact directly anyone who we knew might be attending. I understand how this caused confusion and disruption to members' plans and apologise for it. I am designing a standard proxy form for General Meetings in the future which I will put to Council for approval in April. This will be published on www.antaisce.org/governance and included with future mailouts.

A number of members got in touch with constructive comments on the draft constitution. I will be communicating directly with them. I would also like to invite any other members with comments to make contact with me on [email protected] or to write to Honorary Secretary, Tailors' Hall, Back Lane, Dublin, D08 X2A3, Ireland. I will bring these comments to An Taisce's Council, which is the consultative and deliberative body that has developed the Draft Constitution. Finally, I will be bring proposals to the An Taisce's Council meeting for rescheduling the EGM, and notifying members of the process, and how they can contribute to it. I will write again about this once Council decides.

Yours Sincerely James Leahy Honorary Secretary