Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new chapter in Irish scouting history as Scouting Ireland, the new single all-Ireland scout association, officially comes into being.
The new body will be a multi-denominational, co-educational, non-political association with a membership of over 40,000 across Ireland. The merger follows a vote last May to unite Scouting Ireland (SAI) and Scouting Ireland (CSI). The merger was opposed by the Catholic bishops.
Scouting Ireland (SAI) began in 1908, when it was perceived as predominantly Protestant. Scouting Ireland (CSI) was established in 1927 as the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland and operated under the auspices of the Catholic bishops. Relations between both had been excellent for decades and in May 1998, influenced by the Belfast Agreement, formal negotiations on a merger began,
A letter from the Catholic bishops, expressing "serious misgivings" about the proposals to merge was read to 447 delegates at the meeting on May 11th last of Scouting Ireland's (CSI) national council. Following lengthy debate at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, 301 CSI delegates voted to support the merger, with 146 voting against - just three more than the required 298 two-thirds majority necessary.
At an earlier meeting in UCD the same day, an estimated 92 per cent of Scouting Ireland (SAI) delegates voted for the merger. A spokesman for the bishops said afterwards that issues involved were "not dissimilar to those surrounding denominational education". He said "proposals to form a new organisation involving the transfer of membership and everything else and meaning the winding-up of a Catholic youth association of 76 year's standing was a matter of concern".
Commenting on the creation of the new association, Mr Martin Burbridge, Scouting Ireland's interim chief scout, said: "A single scout association will create opportunities for even better use of resources and a better focus to ensure that we can offer the scout programme to even more young people countrywide."
The formal opening ceremony of Scouting Ireland will take place on January 31st at the association's Larch Hill campsite and administrative centre in Dublin.
