Irish Sailing Association Prepare New Three Year Strategic Plan

The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) is to prepare a new three year Strategic Plan. The new plan will establish the policies to be pursued and the actions required to deliver them successfully.

Announcing the initiative, ISA President Niamh McCutcheon explained that the ISA sees the new plan as being critical to the ISA's ability to provide leadership in satisfying the aspirations of existing members and in attracting new participants to the sport. "Earlier plans gave us the tools to grow the sport but our current plan was done in Celtic Tiger time. The Directors recognise that events have overtaken it and the ISA needs a new plan."

The Board has asked Brian Craig to chair a Strategic Review Group (SRG) to undertake the task and select the Group's members. Brian is recognised as one the most committed and experienced Irish devotees of the sport and played a critical role in establishing the two-yearly Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, the best attended sailing event on the island. Despite his status as a sailor and organiser, he will bring an outsider's view of the ISA to his new task. He has invited Roger Bannon, Neil Murphy, Jack Roy, Des McWilliam and Bryan Armstrong to join his Group, with the option to add others as the process continues.

The SRG will examine the ISA's current policies and activities before moving on to recommend future strategies. Olympic and High Performance activities, where it is believed that current international successes endorse the strategies in place, will not form part of the SRG brief.

Spring 2014 is scheduled as completion date for the Group's assessment of the current position. Brian knows that a major challenge awaits "This will be a major undertaking but I am confident that, with the support and engagement of all interested parties, we will chart a course for the sport suited to this new environment. I feel that, as an independent group, we are ideally placed to seek suggestions. We want to hear from anyone with a view to offer and I assure you that we will listen".