Scouting Ireland

membership badge

Headquarters

Larch Hill

Country

Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland

Founded

1 January 2004

Founder

Richard P. Fortune (1908)

Membership

50,000
(As of 3 June 2016)

Chief Scout

Christy McCann

Affiliation

World Organization of the Scout Movement

Website
http://www.scouts.ie

Scouting Ireland (Irish: Gasóga na hÉireann) is the sole World Organization of the Scout Movement-recognised Scouting association in the Republic of Ireland; in Northern Ireland it operates alongside The Scout Association of the UK. Scouting Ireland is a voluntary, non-formal educational movement for young people. It is independent, non-political, open to all without distinction of origin, race, creed, sexual orientation, spiritual belief or gender, in accordance with the purpose, principles and method conceived by Lord Baden-Powell and as stated by WOSM.

The aim of Scouting Ireland is to encourage the Social, Physical, Intellectual, Character Emotional, and Spiritual development (known as the SPICES) of young people "so that they may achieve their full potential and as responsible citizens, to improve society". Of the 750,000 people between the ages of 6 and 18 in Ireland, approximately 6% are involved in Scouting Ireland. The organisation was founded on 21 June 2003, after a merger between Scouting Ireland C.S.I. and Scouting Ireland S.A.I.. Its headquarters are at Larch Hill, County Dublin.

The association is headed by the Chief Scout, currently Christy McCann, supported by the National Management Committee and Chief Executive Officer, John Lawlor.

The Scouting Ireland organisation has its basis in two separate Irish Scouting organisations — the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI), formerly known as the Boy Scouts of Ireland, and the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI). The former traces its roots to 1908, and the latter was founded in 1927 – both trace their legacy to Lord Baden-Powell's Scout Movement.

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Wikipedia