Use of icu.ie for electioneering ?

NubieOne

It seems that the ICU pre AGM electioneering has just stepped up a gear ! I just noticed that the official site of the Irish Chess Union, which proudly boasts the patronage of the President of Ireland, is being used to score a political point in the run up to the election.

It's quite a good point in fact, according to the latest news report on the site, Damien Cunningham has posted on boards some information that looked bad for the incumbents, but it now seems that it may not have been true. However, that's not my point !

My point is that if Pat Fitzsimons felt the need to respond to Mr.Cunningham, he should have done it on boards.ie, where the original allegation was made. In my view, he should not be using the official site of the ICU (available only to one side in the upcoming election) for electioneering purposes. This look terrible, especially for potential sponsors, the patron and many of the less politically minded members.

pawntof4

Not very surprising at all.

Retd.LoyolaCpt

I will be seeking a renewed mandate for my team, Paul Cassidy, Andrew Kildea, Darko Polimac, Chris and Tristan Sheridan, Eugene Donohue and Kevin O' Connell.

We are an experienced team with only the best interests of Irish Chess at heart and accordingly, I appeal to all members to turn out to vote on the day and have your say on the future direction of Irish Chess.

Over the coming weeks, I will be addressing the issues the executive have had to deal with, the extensive work we have done on a number of important areas and what we hope to achieve if given the privilege of a fresh mandate at the AGM.

Pat Fitzsimons
Chairperson
Irish Chess Union
4th September 2015

After Pat Fitzsimons posted this message to the ICU.ie site two weeks ago, I emailed him to ask that a note be attached to display the members of my team and give a short summary of what we hoped to achieve if elected.

This email was ignored.

I emailed for a second time one week ago including the secretary but this email was also ignored.

For the record, my team and I are very much against the ICU.ie site being used for electioneering. The administration of the site is entrusted to the executive and webmaster by members at the AGM on the understanding that they should provide unbiased notification of upcoming EGMs and the AGM as well as the results of these.

However, given that Pat has already seen fit to advertise his own team, I believe it is in the interest of members that equal space be given to those opposing his team so that they can research both teams before the AGM if they wish to do so.

If you would like to know more about our team, visit:
https://icu2016.wordpress.com/

rob51

To slightly misquote someone whose name I don't recall

Once a man becomes accustomed to murder he soon begins to think little of bad manners

.:)

Ross Harris

I'd like to clarify this situation. I'm a member of the UCU board and was at the most recent AGM. There was a clear distinction made at the AGM between affiliating with the ICU and rejoining. Some of our members were reluctant to rejoin the ICU under the current ICU board, due to the well documented problems over the last year. What was passed at the AGM was that we would AFFILIATE with the ICU by paying a yearly fee, but that we would NOT fully rejoin at present. Our Secretary received assurances from Pat Fitzsimmons that this was possible. We would have our own rating system, run our own tournaments but have closer ties to the ICU. There was no obligation for our members to join the ICU but we would encourage them to do so. Damien Cunningham, who was not President of the UCU at the time, was the person at the AGM who ensured there was an absolute distinction between rejoining and affiliation.

Lecale

Sorry, but I mean you could write a book about all this, what with the incredible history of self interest and disjointed and unfinished hyperbole that you scrawl in a forum post without ever actually saying anything meaningful at all and ending up sounding like a complete loon. Having said that Ross is a good man, but in the same breath, I want to completely condemn Ross Harris for the appalling manner in which he has come onto this board, allowing himself to be manipulated into clarifying the situation for us all. Bad egg! Destroying Irish Chess!

Ballynafeigh Chess

NubieOne wrote: »

It seems that the ICU pre AGM electioneering has just stepped up a gear ! I just noticed that the official site of the Irish Chess Union, which proudly boasts the patronage of the President of Ireland, is being used to score a political point in the run up to the election.

It's quite a good point in fact, according to the latest news report on the site, Damien Cunningham has posted on boards some information that looked bad for the incumbents, but it now seems that it may not have been true. However, that's not my point !

My point is that if Pat Fitzsimons felt the need to respond to Mr.Cunningham, he should have done it on boards.ie, where the original allegation was made. In my view, he should not be using the official site of the ICU (available only to one side in the upcoming election) for electioneering purposes. This look terrible, especially for potential sponsors, the patron and many of the less politically minded members.

The information which i posted was absolutely correct and without flaw the information that Pat continues to peddle is a misleading mess.

If Pat took so long to respond I would have thought that he would have had the intelligence to check his facts first with an email to the secretary of the UCU to verify what exactly was the position of the UCU considering that the President of the UCU was saying something completely and utterly different from what he was publishing.

How many members of the UCU board have to come on to Boards.ie to confirm that the UCU AGM DID NOT pass a motion to rejoin the ICU. Perhaps if the chairman of the ICU had acted correctly and contacted the President of the UCU first or even for that matter at any point since this confusing boast aimed at the election would not have been made then re-made.

Lecale

As a result, the UCU have passed a motion at a recent AGM to re-join the ICU and we are engaged with them on the operational details required to re-integrate the two unions.

Please note that the statement by Mr Cunningham to the effect that I have mislead members by advising them that the Ulster Chess Union intends to affiliate to the Irish Chess Union is not correct.

In Pat's mind then, re-join and affiliate are the same.
To the UCU they are different. Well, to everyone else they are different

brilliantboy

Lecale wrote: »

In Pat's mind then, re-join and affiliate are the same.
To the UCU they are different. Well, to everyone else they are different

Surely the perceived difference was made clear in the various meetings and discussions that took place between the UCU and ICU representatives

anchor4208

Yet another diplomatic master class by the ICU exec. Pat's lack of understanding of some simple English words would have caused minimal damage if he had followed it up in private. Instead, he has gone public, and in doing so ensured that no affiliation will occur while he is chair, let alone re-joining. And then we have our PRO publicly and repeatedly abusing the UCU chair on Facebook. There are no words ...

Ballynafeigh Chess

anchor4208 wrote: »

And then we have our PRO publicly and repeatedly abusing the UCU chair on Facebook. There are no words ...

Well there are quite a few which i'm writing now on another site so it will take a while but i most certainly will answer, it maybe a 1 am job i type slowly

ComDubh

Indeed, Pat could have a made a quick phonecall to the UCU chair to clarify matters. Instead he took the 'foghorn diplomacy' approach and used the ICU web page to argue (wrongly) that he's right. Even if he was right, it's a stupid thing to do as it shows the Irish chess scene in an appalling light.

Pat seems to have only one negotiation mode: all out war with total annihilation of the 'opposition' the goal. Several notable victories to date: the entire Galway chess congress, Mark Orr, Gerry Graham. Battles still in progress: UCU, the rest of the uncancelled tournaments, Pete, the MCU. Sorry if I missed a few.

Lecale

Diplomacy as a game of chess It is all about winning (or whining).

NubieOne

It seems that the current ICU executive were misfortunate enough to lose one good Secretary two months ago when Bryan Tobin resigned. It seems a bit more like carelessness when they lose a second one today ! There's a bit of a shock announcement on the ICU website, Eugene Donohoe resigns! Now that's one resignation letter I'd love to read !

Lecale

I wonder why it is only on official website 1 and not on official website 2.

NubieOne

I have been following the run up to the ICU AGM with increasing interest and tonight, after the resignation of Eugene Donohoe as Secretary, I found the following post on the Ballynanfeigh website.

Peter Cafolla wrote:

Damien , congrats on your post under “chess news and gossip”. You have said a lot of things that needed to be said and I hope that you do go ahead with legal action [snip]

I would further add that as an ICU member I think it is a disgrace that Pat Fitzsimons can use our official website for his own propaganda and electioneering. I’ve always liked Pat in the past but his nomination of a [snip] pratt as P.R.O has seriously changed my opinion of him. Let no one be under any illusion, if Fitzsimons gets re-elected then we will have to put up with Daly on the Executive again [snip] He won’t have to bother with me because I will not be renewing my ICU membership.

I have to say that I find the elections in Chess to be far more interesting than the game itself, you couldn't write this stuff !

Tim Harding

Lecale wrote: »

I wonder why it is only on official website 1 and not on official website 2.

On both now. This brief announcement does NOT say he has withdrawn his candidacy for 2015/16. If so, it would mean nominations will be taken on the day; good for democracy.

Who is going to give the secretary's report at the agm?