Scouting Ireland

Scouting Ireland
Scouting Ireland logo
HeadquartersLarch Hill
CountryRepublic of Ireland, Northern Ireland
Founded1 January 2004
FounderRichard P. Fortune (1908),
Tom and Ernest Farrell (1927)
Membership45,721 as of February 2020
incl. 34,000 juvenile[1]
Chief ScoutEoin Callanan[2][3]
Chief ExecutiveSean Sheehan[4][5]
PatronMichael D. Higgins[6]
AffiliationWorld Organization of the Scout Movement
Website
http://www.scouts.ie/
Neckerchiefs are used to identify Scouts from different groups, e.g. one group might wear blue and red, while another might wear yellow and blue.
 Scouting portal

Scouting Ireland (Irish: Gasóga na hÉireann) is one of the largest youth movements on the island of Ireland, a voluntary educational movement for young people with over 45,000 members, including over 11,000 adult volunteers early 2020.[1] Of the 750,000 people between the ages of 6 and 18 in Ireland, over 6% are involved with the organisation. It was founded in 2004, following the amalgamation of two of the Scouting organisations on the island. It is the World Organization of the Scout Movement-recognised Scouting association in the Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland it operates alongside The Scout Association of the UK and the Baden-Powell Scout Association.

The organisation is independent, non-political, and open to all young people without distinction of origin, race, creed, sexual orientation, spiritual belief or gender, in accordance with the purpose, principles and method conceived by Lord Baden-Powell and as stated by WOSM.[7] The aim of the organisation is to encourage the social, physical, intellectual, character, emotional, and spiritual development aspects (known as the SPICES) of young people "so that they may achieve their full potential and as responsible citizens, to improve society".[8][9] The process of founding the new organisation came on 21 June 2003, after a merger between Scouting Ireland C.S.I. and Scouting Ireland S.A.I. was announced, becoming effective on 1 January 2004.[7][10] Its national office is at Larch Hill, County Dublin.[7]

The organisation, which is registered with the Companies Registration Office as a company,[11] is headed by the Chief Scout, and governed by a board of directors who are answerable to the Scout Groups as company members. A small professional staff team is led by a chief executive officer.

  1. ^ a b Annual Report 2019/2020 (PDF) (Report). Scouting Ireland. May 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Welcoming our new Chief Scout this evening, our sincere congratulations to Eoin Callanan of Lee Valley Scout County from all of us in North Cork Scout County. ..." Larch Hill: North Cork Scout County. 14 September 2024 – via Facebook.
  3. ^ "Scouting AGM 2021 on Livestream". livestream.com.
  4. ^ "Sean Sheehan Appointed CEO of Scouting Ireland". Scouts.ie. 22 August 2024.
  5. ^ "E10-2024 - Scouting Ireland CEO Update" (Mailing list). Scouting Ireland. 22 January 2024.
  6. ^ Power, Jack (14 December 2018). "President Michael D Higgins 'concerned' at scout abuse revelations". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "Scouts Link across the Border". The News Letter. 1 January 2004. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Scouting in a Nutshell". Scouts.ie. 2017. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Scouting Ireland Constitution" (PDF). Scouting Ireland. 2017. section 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference merge was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "GASÓGA NA hÉIREANN /SCOUTING IRELAND". Companies Registration Office. Retrieved 29 August 2023.