Irish Social Forum Co-operation and Solidarity Summit Group Minutes, 25.9.03

Irish Social Forum Co-operation and Solidarity Summit Group Minutes, 25.9.03

Irish Social Forum Co-operation and Solidarity Summit Group Minutes, 25.9.03

Minutes of a meeting held on Thursday 25th September 2003 @ 7.30pm in the Comhlámh office, 10 Camden St. Dublin 2.

Present: Joe Kelly, Brendan Young, Jean Somers, Paul Kinsella, Mark O�Connor, Mary Kinane

Apologies: Barry Finnegan, Liz Curry, Paul Butler, Orla Walsh, Pat Clafferty, Caoimhe de Barra, Ian McDonald, Joe Campbell

Chairperson: Joe Kelly
Minute-taker: Mary Kinane

Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
Minutes of the last meeting (18/09/03) were read. On the call for people to attend the North-East third all-island Irish Social Forum get-together in Belfast Sunday 21st, it was noted that Deirdre de Burca had taken part.


There was a feeling of real concern amongst the group at the level of attendance at the meeting. It was agreed that Joe Kelly as chair should send a strong letter to all on the e- mailing list asking people to attend the Thursday meetings considering the time that is left before the summit. It was stressed that information needs to come back to these meetings, if not personally, then through someone who can attend. Brendan expressed concern around press work and felt that there was a need to have someone to anchor this between now and the summit. The group discussed the various options in relation to the work that needed to be done. These options varied from designating a person to work on a part-time basis to cancelling or scaling down the conference. In the end it was agreed that we need all key people regarding the plenaries and the task groups to be reporting to each other and to one other person in between meetings. It was agreed that the following would contact people by next Monday/Tuesday to ensure that reports will come back on the Thursday:
Brendan Young to report on Communications
Mary Kinane to follow up on Defending Public Services plenary
Joe Kelly to follow up Orla Walsh/Joe Campbell on the Carnival Group
Jean Somers to follow up Willie Cumming on the Peace not War plenary
Mary Kinane to follow up Pat Clafferty on the Planet before Profit plenary
Report from Carnival/March Group
Smithfield has been confirmed as the definite venue for the carnival. Posters to advertise the carnival and summit will be put up this Saturday 28th along the anti-war march route. It was agreed to meet at 12 noon at the Teachers� Club.
Timetable for the Summit
The timetable for the weekend summit was discussed and reviewed. Questions were raised around the media�s interest in the summit and what story we wished to present. It was felt that the �short official opening� to commence at 6pm was very early and could tie in closer to the first plenary which starts at 8pm. It was proposed and agreed by the group to have the official opening at 7.30pm. The opening would consist of the ESF speaker who is over for the Friday and a speaker involved in the organising of the summit.


Regarding the individual plenaries throughout the summit, it was agreed we needed to get a fuller draft of these sessions by next Thursday�s meeting.


A number of questions were raised regarding the UCD facilities, e.g. access and catering. Mary Kinane will ask Pat Clafferty if he wishes to continue to liaise on the issue of UCD facilities. If not, Mark O�Connor confirmed that he is available to be this link.


The final assembly feedback plenary for Sunday morning was discussed in terms of its content and location. Jean proposed drafting ideas to make this plenary more interesting (for example, for people to have enjoyed the summit, to say what they got out of it, something on the European Social Forum and something around the direction of the Irish Social Forum for next year). It was felt that if this session can take place in town, it would be more attractive as it would be easier for people to go from the feedback to the march and carnival. Next Thursday was set as the deadline for coming up with an alternative location to UCD � Brendan will chase up Liberty Hall and Joe will check out Mother Redcaps.
Outreach/Workshops
If anyone is available to do outreach to student societies, contact Ian McDonald.


The list of confirmed workshops to date was read out. It was agreed that these need to go up on the website. The week before the summit will be used to arrange the logistics around the workshops.


It was noted that a number of people will be needed to work on the logistics of the whole weekend, i.e. registration, etc. Jean and Mark agreed to work on an �in-house� checklist for all the details/tasks that need to be worked out.


There was uncertainty re. whether we have an ISF banner. If we do and if anyone knows of its whereabouts, let us know!
ISF Fundraisers
Next Tuesday night�s proposed table quiz fundraiser will not be going ahead due to insufficient time to prepare. It was proposed to hold it on Tuesday Oct 14th. Joe Kelly and John Meehan will re-schedule. The ISF fundraiser being organised by Comhlámh and ATTAC (showing of Chavez documentary) is going ahead in Chief O�Neil�s, Smithfield Thursday Oct 9th at 8pm. As this clashes with the usual Thursday night meetings, it was proposed to hold our meeting the Wednesday of that week instead so that we can support the fundraiser (*).
A.O.B.
It was pointed out by Brendan that a programme needs to be produced so that any organisation who is participating in the plenary session can send it on to their constituent groups, etc. This should consist of the titles of the main plenaries, the participating organisations and a list of the confirmed workshops. It was agreed that it would be sufficient to do something which could be sent out by e-mail and in a format that could be pasted onto other websites. The group felt strongly that the ISF website needs to be updated. Mary will follow up with Barry Finnegan and Brendan will follow up a contact he has who may be able to do the work.


Joe concluded the meeting by asking everyone how they felt it went. There was general agreement that people felt a lot more optimistic by the end of the meeting than they did at the beginning. The next ISF meeting will take place next Thursday Oct 2nd at 7.30pm in the Comhlámh office.


* Post this meeting, it was later agreed to continue using Thursdays for meetings. For the week commencing Oct 6th, the ISF meeting will take place at the earlier time of 6pm in order to facilitate people attending the �Chavez� fundraiser at 8pm Chief O�Neil�s in Smithfield.