On Tuesday 29th
December 2009 the GovernanceReformAtIrishRedCross blog was created and the
first article written. Today, 16th May 2012, this article will be its last.
Since that first article
was published 870 days have passed. The Blog has straddled four calendar
years. 110 articles have been written. 1,232 comments have been posted. The
Blog has been viewed 102,697 times (at time of writing), an average of 118
views a day every day for two and a half years. The Blog’s 110 articles will
remain in existence for perpetuity.
On
the 8th May 2012 the Minister for Justice and Defence, Mr. Alan
Shatter, appointed two external people to the Central Council (General
Assembly) of the Irish Red Cross for a three year term. The credentials,
expertise and knowledge of both are impressive. Mr. Máirtín O Fainín is a
former career Ambassador (Australia, Argentina, Uganda, Zambia amongst others) with
the Department of Foreign Affairs. He is currently a member of the Advisory
Committee of the Combined Services Third World Fund. Ms. Mary Flaherty, a former Fine Gael TD from
Dublin and Minister for State at the Department of Social Welfare during the
1980s is currently Chief Executive of the CARI Foundation. During her political
career Ms. Flaherty was also Fine Gael spokesperson on Development Affairs and
worked closely with European colleagues to keep Africa high on the EU’s political
agenda. It is not yet clear whether Mr. Fainín and/or Ms. Flaherty intend to
put themselves forward for the Society's Executive Committee (Board of Directors).
The
upcoming appointments to the positions of Chairperson, Vice Chairperson,
Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, new Executive Committee (Board of
Directors), and five additional external nominees (3 to Central Council and 2
to the Executive Committee) will be finalised on 26th May at the
upcoming Central Council/General Assembly meeting. The new National Director of
Units position has been awarded to Tony Lawlor, current National Vice Chairman.
Readers
may be wondering why this is the last Blog article. After five years
(2005-2010) working for the Irish Red Cross as Head of the International
Department and nearly thirty months (December 2009-May 2012) writing the Blog
now is an appropriate time to pass the baton. I have also concluded a
settlement with the Irish Red Cross concerning my dismissal.
As
this is the last Blog article it is important to note that there are a number
of people who have assisted me throughout the last few years. I will not name
them all here but they know who they are. At many difficult junctures they provided
me with the strength and fortitude to keep going.
On
a final note I owe a great depth of gratitude to my inspirational parents,
brothers and sisters, my girlfriend, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, extended
family members and friends for their unflinching support and encouragement.
They have, without any shadow of a doubt, been my backbone and the mainstay of
my determination to continue. I thank them all most sincerely and from the
bottom of my heart.
Noel
Wardick
Clontarf,
Dublin,
Ireland.
The world is round and the place which
may seem like the end may also be the beginning-Ivy B Priest
Note
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