First General Meeting

A huge amount of business was transacted at your Associations well attended General Meeting at the Hodson Bay Hotel on the 20^th January.We now have a functioning set of Rules both Nationally and for the Regions .The  Memorandum and Articles of Association of our new Company were also circulated and adopted.

In opening the meeting Mr John Watson gave an informative and passionate presentation of the valuable attributes and strengths of our Traditional Irish Horse and Mr Hugh Leonard in his address fully endorsed what John said and also pointed out that , though foreign bred foals made more at auction, by 3 years of age the traditional bred horse had caught up with and often surpassed those prices. Hugh also made the point that a Traditional bred had far more appeal to the thousands of leisure riders who placed a high value on brains and temperament. Joan Bateman was warm in her praise of our predecessors and thanked them for carrying and passing on the torch to our Association. Jim Cooke gave a brief report into our financial position  and said that now we had a firm legal platform we would be seeking funding and sponsorship from various bodies.

Mr Hugh Leonard also announced that a National Show would be run by the TIHA this year. Date and venue to be announced. Our new Chairman gave an update on the meetings held with HSI and stated that while progress had been made in many areas, including passport and stud book issues , much work remained. He hoped that  full agreement could be reached at upcoming meetings.

Your National Council elected at the meeting is;

Chairman                      Mr Hugh Leonard

Vice Chairman             Mr Chris  Ryan

Treasurer                      Mr  Jim  Cooke

Secretary                      Ms  Joan Bateman

Assistant Secretary      Ms Michelle Flynn

Breeding                       Mr William Micklem

Education & Research   Mr John Watson

Marketing                         Mr Chris Ryan

In accordance with our rules the Chairmen of each region , elected by the members of that region, have a seat on the National Council. They are;

Connacht.             Mr Kevin Noone

North Munster     Mr Eamonn Gleeson

South Munster      Mr Sean O Donovan

Leinster                 Mr George Chapman

The Ulster Chairman will be elected at their upcoming meeting.

Our Honorary President is Lady Anne Hempill

Honorary Vice Presidents are Mr Michael Mac Ewan and

Mr Jack Powell  MRCVS