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Constitution
April 2004
Mission Statement
County Leitrim Community Forum is resolved to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the community
of Leitrim in all its parts. Cherishing all the people of the county equally and defending their religious
and civil liberties, equal rights and equal opportunities, oblivious of differences, to all it's people.
Aims and Objectives
The aims of the County Leitrim Community Forum are:
- To become the recognised primary voice of the community and voluntary sector in County Leitrim.
- To promote an awareness of the Forum at all levels.
- To be inclusive and supportive of diversity, of disability, and of the marginalised.
- To develop coherent strategic policies expressing the concerns, needs, and aspirations of the communities
within Co. Leitrim.
- To work in partnership with Leitrim County Council, the County Development Board, and other statutory
agencies in making Leitrim a good and safe environment to live, work, and play.
Objectives:
The objectives of the Forum can be summarised as having two strands. The first is to give a validation to
community representation within the county. To provide Forum representation on the County Development
Board, and to present policy decisions to our communities in a comprehendible manner. The second is to
enable the diverse interests within the community to voice their concerns, needs and aspirations to
inform policy making. These strands are perceived as entailing the following actions:
- To provide the recognised and valued voice between communities and government agencies.
- To work alongside other community and voluntary representatives, to provide such
representatives from within the Forum and to develop community representative capacity.
- To ensure and support responsible representation.
- To be involved in the monitoring and evaluation of policy decisions and implementation.
- To raise awareness of the activities of the forum through all the avenues of communication, in
a simple non-jargon manner.
- To be transparent in all dealings.
- To be responsible to create a climate where debate can take place in a fair and reasonable
manner.
- To ensure that the views of all, including the most marginalised are heard.
- To develop coherent and holistic policy strategies.
The Purpose of the Community Forum.
- To present a strong unified voice for the community and voluntary sector in Leitrim.
- To be an active and equal partner within local social partnership structures in Leitrim.
- To act as a mechanism bringing statutory agencies, local authorities and communities together
in a non-threatening and frank environment to highlight and solve problems.
- To promote the Forum as a source of information, networking and support for the community
and voluntary sector in County Leitrim and recognised as such by the statutory agencies, by
government and by the communities of Leitrim.
- To provide a mechanism by which the community has an input into policy at local level,
and be involved in the monitoring and evaluation of it's implementation.
- To actively promote social inclusion and equality legislation in Co. Leitrim. To provide
leadership in inclusion and social capacity building.
Membership of the Forum
County Leitrim Community Forum is open to a broad range of Community and Voluntary groups subject
to the following conditions:
- Must be in existence for over a year.
- Must be a group with open membership and holding an Annual General Meeting at which
officers are elected.
- Groups must have at least seven members.
- Groups must not be short term single issue groups.
It is also desirable for a group to have a constitution statement of aims and objectives.
The groups who meet the criteria of membership of the forum are invited to propose and elect
representatives to sit on the Forum in accordance with the structures of the Forum. Elections
will be held every 5 years. By-elections to replace members standing down will be held as required.
The representatives will be expected to act in accordance with the rules of accountability of the
forum and in the spirit of the aims and objectives of the Forum.
A registry of the members will be kept by the County Development Board and by the Forum. It will be
the responsibility of member groups to notify of changes to their details on this registry, when
appropriate.
The member groups will receive County Development Board and Forum publications along with
information from their representatives. In turn they are requested to provide information of
concern to them to their representatives, for consideration at Forum and County Development
Board level.
Structure of the Forum
26 representatives of the Members of the County Leitrim Community Forum will be elected to fulfil
the following positions:
| Representative Sector by Category |
Number of representatives. |
Male (M) and/or Female (F) balance |
| The community Networks |
| North Leitrim Community Network |
4 |
2M/2F |
| South Leitrim Community Network |
4 |
2M/2F |
| The Electoral Areas of: |
| Manorhamilton |
2 |
1M/1F |
| Domahair |
2 |
1M/1F |
| Mohill |
2 |
1M/1F |
| Ballinamore |
2 |
1M/1F |
| The Sectorial Interests of : |
| Disadvantaged Men |
1 |
M |
| Disadvantaged Women |
1 |
F |
| Sports |
1 |
M/F |
| Elderly |
1 |
M/F |
| Community Enterprise |
1 |
M/F |
| Arts/Culture/Environment |
1 |
M/F |
| Youth |
1 |
M/F |
| People with Disabilities |
1 |
M/F |
| Smallholders |
1 |
M/F |
| Travellers/ethnic minorities |
1 |
M/F |
These elected representatives will sit for 5 years, By-elections will be held to replace representatives
prematurely standing down as necessary.
Representatives will be eligible for re-election for a maximum of 3 consecutive terms.
Officers will be elected annually at an AGM by the Forum, to the administrative roles of Chair,
Deputy Chair, Secretary, PRO, and Treasurer. Working groups will be formed as the need arises to
fulfill specific tasks.
Two nominees/representatives will be elected to sit on the County Development Board. To ensure
that the community Forum maintains a balanced and equal representation, the following formular is
to be enacted:
Formular for election of representatives:
Members of the forum wishing to stand for election will put their names forward in advance of the
election to the chair. A secret ballot will be held with members of the whole forum voting for the
candidate of their choice. The winner (the one with the most votes) will be elected to represent
whichever half of the county (based on the division of the community networks) they come from
or represent. The second representative will be elected from the remaining candidates subject
to the criteria of, coming from or representing the other half of the county, and be of the opposite
gender to the first representative. These representatives will be appointed for the full-term of
the Forum (5 years). Should a representative stand-down or fail in their duties to the forum and
need replacing, the Forum will hold a bye-election replacing the representative subject to
maintaining the geographic and gender balance of the representation.
Representatives will be expected to actively advocate the policy decisions of the Forum. To ensure
that this voice is heard on the County Development Board, the representatives must be present at
all meetings of the County Development Board subject to exonerating circumstances. These must
be notified to the Forum Officers.
If the representatives fail to attend 3 consecutive County Development Board meetings without
approved reasons, the Forum will be asked to elect a new representative/s.
All members representing the Forum at any level, will be expected to advocate the policy decisions made
by the Forum. Policy statements by the Forum will be published once full consultation and discussion has
been carried out and a positon or action agreed by the Forum.
2 major meetings will be held each year to hear and respond to formal reports from the Forums
representatives, other community representatives on other bodies and organisations, and invited
speakers.
4 other Forum meetings will be held each year to formulate policy and carry out the tasks of the annual
work programme. Training days, working group sessions and other extraordinary meetings will be
arranged as, and for who, necessary.
The Forums County Development Board representatives will keep the members of the Forum
appraised of developments at all times.
Accountability of the Forum.
- The Forum will be known as County Leitrim Community Forum.
- The number of members will be 26. These are selected from the following: North and South
Community Networks (8), Electoral Areas (8) and sectorial representatives (10). In
selecting representatives, the issues of gender and geographic representation will be
borne in mind.
- In the event of a member being unable to attend a meeting no substitution is possible.
- The Forum will provide a two way means of communication between Leitrim County Development
Board and communities in County Leitrim. Methods of ensuring that members feed back to
communities in an appropriate manner will be put in place. Issues of concern to communities
should be channelled through the two representatives of the Forum who sit on Leitrim County
Development Board.
- The Forum will meet as often as its members decide. Leitrim County Development Board will
facilitate a minimum of four meetings each year.
- Training will be provided for members as necessary.
- The Leitrim County Development Board will administer the budget allocation of the Forum. The
Forum will propose and oversee the budget allocation.
- The Forum will elect officers. These will consist of Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary, Public
Relations Officer, and Treasurer.
- Decisions will be made, where possible, by consensus. In the event of a vote being necessary
it will be by a show of hands. In the event of a tie, the chair shall exercise a second and
casting vote.
- Two representatives from the Community Forum will be nominated to sit on Leitrim County
Development Board. Representatives may be nominated to other bodies or organisations
as appropriate.
- In order for a meeting to proceed, a quorum must be present. A quorum will consist of one third
of the membership of the Forum. If a quorum is not present within fifteen minutes of the
scheduled time of commencement, the meeting will be adjourned until a later date to be
decided by the chair.
- Any member failing to attend three consecutive meetings without tendering an apology, s/he
will be deemed to have resigned and will be replaced.
- All meetings will be accurately minuted. The minutes will reflect all decisions and
recommendations made at a meeting. Copies of minutes will be distributed to all members.
Minutes will be signed as accurate by the chair at the commencement of the following
meeting.
- Notice for meetings will be given in writing at least seven days in advance. The notice will
contain an agenda and the minutes of the previous meeting.
- It will be considered inappropriate for issues or discussions to be made or taken personally.
Each member has a right to be heard with respect and without prejudice.
- A quorum for constitution changes and amendments will consist of two thirds of the Forum
members. A minimum of two thirds of those present must vote in favour of any such
amendment for it to be passed.
- All discussions at Forum meetings will be confidential. All decisions of the Forum will be public,
unless specifically excluded by the Forum.
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The Community
Forum is funded by Central Government.
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