HUNTING ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
NEWS
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From David Wilkinson PRO--- HAI
The 2003 AGM of The Hunting Association of Ireland was held in The Horse and Jockey this Tuesday 15th April. All the six affiliated groups were well represented namely The Irish Foot Harriers, The Irish Masters of Beagles Association, The Irish Masters of Foxhounds Association, The Irish Masters of Harriers Association, The Irish Masters of Minkhounds Association and The Ward Union Staghounds.
The main item on the agenda was the adoption of an arbitration facility that will be available to all the affiliated associations where a dispute arises. The new clause now included in the HAI constitution reads as follows. 'The HAI may at the request of and by agreement of: 'any two constituent associations whose members are in dispute, appoint an arbitrator to resolve the issue in dispute between them'. The appointment shall be made by those associations not involved in the dispute.
Other items on the agenda included reports from the recent 'International Union of Hunting With Hounds' meeting that was held in Ireland earlier this year under the auspices of FACE (Irl). Outgoing HAI chairman Mr Oliver Russell said he was delighted that we were able to put on such a well organised couple of days and thanked everyone involved in the running of the conference. Also Mr Russell urged all associations to make special efforts before next season to ensure that all hunt club officials were up to date on the Rules and Procedures agreed between the Department of Agriculture and The HAI. The procedures have stood hunting well over recent years and the general public have responded positively to self regulation. He finished his outgoing statement by saying that luckily the main problem with hunting in Ireland is it's growing popularity and where mounted hunting is concerned the ownership of hunters and ponies by everyone in the community has expanded beyond belief.
The election of Chairman is conducted on an annual draw system between the six associations and the first Chairman of the next six year cycle is Mr Jim Murphy from Cork of The Irish Foot Harriers Association, The Hon Sec is Mr Tom Geary of The IMHA, The Hon Treasurer is Mr David Daly of The IMHA and The PRO is Mr David Wilkinson of The IMHA.