A New ICU
Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 10:20 pm
What do I think about the recentIrish Canoe Union High Court case, and what do I think the ICU should do to move forward?
We need a new ICU. And here are some of the steps I suggest:
We need a new ICU. And here are some of the steps I suggest:
- The ICU chairperson should resign immediately.
- He should have resigned last Friday. Eamon Devoy has been the ICU chairman since 2004, over 6 years. All of this mess happened during his watch. He was either absent, preoccupied, incompetent or inept. He ignored warnings and displayed sickening arrogance at times. He can’t continue in his role as ICU chair person, he bears partial responsibility. He has done considerable work in a voluntary capacity, that's appreciated, but there has to be accountability. He should resign.
- Fire the CEO.
- Re-coupe the money that he was over paid/helped himself to.
- Publish the 2006 Price Waterhouse Coopers governance audit of the ICU on the ICU website.
- The ICU board needs to get it’s house in order, mop up the mess it made. But do no more than that.
- The ICU board should not make any further changes to the ICU (new positions, etc.). There are some great people on the board today, but there are a few that need to be shown the door. And we don't want these people shaping the new ICU.
- Hold the ICU AGM. Re-elect the new executive members that brought about this investigation and the don’t re-elect any executive board members that contributed to this mess. (I’ll publish these names before the election if they have the brass neck to go for re-election).
- Sue or negotiate a cash settlement with the Auditors that have failed to carry out proper audits of the ICU accounts in recent years. (also report them to their Accountancy body)
- Investigate further any board members that had finical dealings or party related transactions with the ICU that weren't declared.
- Report any suspected impropriety, fraud or illegal activities to the Gardai and Director of Corporate enforcement.
- Open up the ICU to its members. Embrace transparency.
- Recruit a young, educated CEO that's an active paddler. It’s a small company, no massive financial or business experience is required. Enthusiasm, character and competence should be the key requirement.
- Carry out another audit of corporate governance. (maybe steer away from Price Waterhouse Coopers....)
- Reform the ICU structures over the short to medium term.
- For example, there is massive overlap in some areas. This overlap is due to an inept/lazy/absent executive board, a shit CEO and a TDU that has been underfunded and ineffective for the last number of years.
- The ICU CEO, the ICU development officer(s), the ICU TDU, the ICU board and ICU executive all have hugely overlapping responsibilities. In some cases this results in some things not being addressed and in other cases it blocks other things from being done.
- Move away from the Irish Sports Council welfare mindset. A healthy vibrant ICU should be able to finance itself. ISC grants should only make up a fraction of the turn over in the future. Unlike the current situation where the ISC grant makes up for the majority of turnover. A new CEO and Chairperson can lead us toward financial stability and independence.
- The ICU should be a good employer. Improve the pay and conditions of the existing ICU full time staff. Their pay and conditions were always analysed by looking a the block of cash on the books that was set aside for ICU employment over heads. Requests to give a break down of how it was divided up were rejected by the CEO and chairperson. Little did we know that the CEO was paying himself the lions share.
- Give the current ICU staff a bonus and a holiday for putting up with this shit storm. What a shit work environment. They are an asset and should be treated as such.