#ISA – The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) is convening an extraordinary general meeting to propose a revised membership fee structure next month.
The introduction of the 'joint membership scheme' in 1993 fundamentally changed the representative base of the Association and now the ISA say that because clubs have changed over the past 20 years there is 'a need to introduce a single fee formula that is proportionate to a club's membership subscription income'.
The brainchild of former president Roger Bannon, the original scheme underpinned the financial viability of the ISA by making every member of a sailing club also a member of the ISA.
The current ISA subscription rate is 10% of a member's club subscription subject to a minimum of €24 and maximum of €36. For most of the bigger clubs such as Dun Laoghaire's waterfront clubs, the Royal Cork, Kinsale and Howth the rate is €36.
The ISA takes subscriptions from 73 sailing and powerboat clubs in the country ranging in size from the smallest clubs with only a dozen members to the largest in Dun Laoghaire, the Royal St. George Yacht Club with 1,858 members according to the ISA CEO Harry Hermon.
The total number of club members affiliated to the ISA is estimated at over 21,000.
In 2010 income from club member subscriptions generated €320,843 for the ISA but in 2011 this had dropped to 286,087.
The EGM is scheduled for February 11th at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire.