Irish Whitewater Forum

To all concerned,

I'd rather not be posting here, or anywhere for that matter, but seeing as there are several spats ongoing, none of which are likely to be resolved (perhaps agreeing to disagree for the present??) and aspersions and insinuations are flying, and in most cases they are going to result in further delays to setting things straight, while small issues distract from the big problem.

I'm going to refer to the ICU as CI (Canoe Ireland) from now on, as I wish to draw a line in the sand in the hope that the organisation is changing for the better (the past is unchangeable). Thus when I say ICU, I mean pre-2010, and CI means post 2010. We can learn from the past and let the mistakes that have occurred inform our decisions, but to let it control us would be a grave mistake. There are new people involved and they deserve a chance, all of them, to be judged on their performance.

As an organisation, CI has many objectives, each technical discipline is looking to promote itself, the normal paddler (who may or may not compete in one or more disciplines wants to get something, people want to have more access to rivers, more coaching, playfeatures built, a slalom course, funding for international teams, etc, etc. But the reality is that the office has neither the funding nor the staff to deal with half of these issues - let alone all of them. I imagine it's like trying to deal with 15 screaming babies simultaneously.
Secondly, the union has no clear direction - in other words, it is not known which issues should get most priority. What do the members want the union to focus on most?? In 2010 all members were sent a survey by email, that's over 3000 members - approx. 300 replied, an abyssmal return. And what did these people want - more of everything please. An impossible task.
Thirdly, how many people are attending the AGM (I'm certainly guilty of not showing up). But this is where the executive are elected and those who are voted in will, of course, represent their voters, and then once they are satisfied, they will look after others. If you don't bother to vote, then accept that your silence is tacit approval for whatever happens. If you want to see change, then attend and vote. (Volunteering is also very welcome).

Certainly for the past year, CI has not achieved what it could have, but a legal process was pending (it is not the fault of CI that the legal processes of the land are pathetically slow) and in the absence of a CEO, the Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer were standing in to fill the role (this being done on top of their day jobs - which have generally become more demanding in the current economic climate, and usually at the expense of their own time to paddle/spend time with families - How many of you can look in the mirror and honestly say you are willing to do the same?). On top of the work of acting CEO, they were trying to make some sense of where the organisation stood right now, both financially, and in terms of its' other commitments. It is not a task I envy them.
From my point of view, there are certain things that have not proceeded as quickly as I would have liked, but given the circumstances, I'm happy to wait.

The organisation needs to do many things (the main things being - the list is not ordered);
1) Find a new CEO
2) Develop a new strategic plan, clearly stating it's intentions and focii
3) Reconnect with the many disaffected paddlers

I personally think that the BMC (British Mountaineering Council) is what CI should attempt to emulate. It is an ambitious target, that we may never reach due to lack of numbers and funding, but if we don't try we are letting ourselves down.
But as an organisation it serves it's members well, campaigning for access for all, organising courses for all, organising competitions for all, and supporting expeditions and elite athletes.

Lastly, it is my opinion, that the minutes of all board and executive meetings should be made available to view on the CI website, and that a report/investigation into the past 10 years activity be carried out and published. Transparency is critical in ensuring that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.

You get out, what you put in.

Brendan Barry
Surf Committee Chair

Mr. Barry - I applaud your well worded outlining of a properly forward thinking position.

Fair play....

Nice Brendan, that made a lot of sense.

If I may... 3) Reconnect with the many disaffected paddlers


From somebody newish to the scene, it just seems that any little funding that the ICU gets goes mainly to the prestigious disciplines rather then the disciplines which have the most active particpation. This I feel alienates many many paddlers and why feedback requests get ignored and so few people are posting their opinions on these threads. CI, I believe needs to focuse more on bringing the disciplines together on a regular basis and invoke more togetherness among all disciplines supported under their mission statement, put the 15 screaming babies together on big event weekends and you may achieve a more unified and bigger membership (and create great publicity for the sport in the process).

All I really see at the moment is partition between all the disciples, LD racers never meeting freestyle boaters, and sea kayakers never meeting slalom racers(etc...), creating I feel a lot of disillusion with the system among members, I realise that the Liffey Descent may be an exception to this, but then a wonderful new event like the Crana Canoe weekend doesnt get the hype it deserves.

It manages to bring seakayaking, slalom, freestyle, open boat racing, a wildwater race, a whitewater boatercross junior and senior categories for all and of course a social night all together on one weekend, no small feat. Maybe if the weekend continues to develop, surf and and polo could be incorporated aswell. This event and more like this being with more support from CI will I hope bring us all closer together as a community.

I know my views are very one dimensional what with the larger issues facing the obviously devoted voluntary new committee of CI in the near future. Just I feel its the right way to start rebuilding ties with the Irish paddling community and trust for the governing body of our sport.

Here, here.

Andrew, I agree with your sentiments, many other people feel the same way. But, as with most things ICU related, there is more to it than meets the eye.

A large part of the money that the ICU receives is funding from the Irish Sports Council (ISC). The ICU has to promise a lot of things to get this money and they have to actually do a lot of these things to keep on getting the money. Most of this funding is allotted for specific areas and goals, most of which are for the competitive disciplines that are often related to the Olympics (or other national social goals, like women in sport, etc.). The trade off is that the ICU has a larger volume of cash going through it, some of which will find its way to the recreational disciplines and can pay staffing and administrative costs. The staff employed under these schemes can also service the wider ICU. And the ICU was/is great at getting this sort of funding. It worked for years.

Problems occur when the ICU board/CEO settle for this sort of business model. The ICU isn't making any significant headway towards any other revenue streams, the most obvious of which is providing services to its member's, the vast majority of which are recreational/non-competitive paddlers or paddlers from low profile disciplines.

The ICU hemorrhaged members for the last ten years. Membership totals fell by more than 1,000 over 4 years, from 4,110 in 2002, to 3,100 in 2006, but remember this a compound loss. And at this point the ICU had more money than it ever had. There was no visible effort to stem this tide. The ICU was focused on this ISC funding model and neglected what it actually was meant to be, a union for paddlers. Soon this actually started becoming an issue when applying for ISC funding, the applications for funding where almost wholly fictional at times. The ICU Strategic Development Plan 2005 – 2009 - 'Stay, Stay, Succeed', seemed to have been created to get the most out of the ISC rather than actually being a plan that the ICU would really follow to develop the union.
I previously outlined some recommendations for the ICU, one of the recommendations is that the ICU needs to move away from the Irish Sports Council welfare mindset. A healthy vibrant ICU should be able to finance itself. Sure, continue to apply for ISC funding, but ISC grants should only make up a fraction of the turnover in the future. A new CEO and Chairperson can lead us toward financial stability and independence, this is rooted in a business model that focuses on all Canoe Ireland members.

Andrew, I hope this post goes some way to explain why some areas get more attention than others.