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Dear Friends.
Another year has passed and I am very pleased to report on our most successful to date.
Competition Licenses
With our own Competition License instructors / assessors now in place, both Paul Daly and Paul Smith have being flat out traveling the length and breadth of the 26 counties running competition license courses. We have made some changes to our two day course beginning this year, this is in line with our review of competitor performance and also as part of our own strategic development going forward. The principal differences will be a theory test based on the pre reads and the rule book of the particular discipline and an additional requirement that to achieve a full competition license each student must complete without incident an IPSA SanctionedFinally I would remind all competition license holders that to maintain your license you must and I repeat must have achieved at leastsanctioned match points in the previous 12 months , this does not apply the members that achieved their license in the preceding year .
Irish National Range Officers Institute
In November and December we ran a very successful Range Officers Seminar, the success of the seminar owes much to Paul Daly Training Director, JD Corcoran, and the first and I hope not the last IROA /IPSA Range Master Mr. Nico Van Niekerk, the depth of experience and knowledge that Nico brings to the IPSA will be invaluable in developing a world class Cadre of Range Officers. I wish to congratulate the group that traveled from DonegalWestmeath , Wicklow, Laois and to take the seminar ,and for many long hours of study and effort in passing the first stage of a two year in becoming a IPSA Range Officer . All involved in the preparation of the seminar put in long hours of typing and meetings over our kitchen table with further valuable input from Mr. David Van Standen in fine tuning some of the more pc elements of our 400 page manual. We intend to run a further course at the end of 2008 prospective candidates will be invited to apply during the following year .As with all our courses we try and set a standard for others to follow, this became evident during our recent negotiations on implementing a new Insurance Package for your Association and also evidenced by the number of requests from other more established regions for details of our Competition License Course.
IPSA Insurance Scheme
During the late Summer and Autumn I along with other members of the committee began to investigate the possibility of providing a dedicated IPSA / Practical Shooting Insurance Policy , as with all other endeavors that we undertake we were in the happy position that a number of our members and shooting friends have expertise in this area ,Kerry O’Brien and John Clare give freely of their time and sage advice in putting in place a policy that ensures the continued existence of our association but more importantly insurers our members during the course of any sanctioned match or training course . The cost of this years membership will therefore increase to €100.00, a copy of the policy document will be issued with each new membership card. The insurance is mandatory for all members and our policy specifically covers target shooting athletes shooting and movingeither as part of a IPSA or IPSC Sanctioned Match anywhere in the World.
Competitions.
The highlight of our competitive year was no doubt the participation of the IPSA Squad in the European Handgun Championships, we also had members shooting matches in Norway, Germany, Asia, United Kingdom and Lithuania.
The trip to France was not without incident and sadly some of the incidents during the run up to match were to say the least both unpalatable and downright selfish. Nevertheless with a lot of hard work, emails, phone calls, and finally threats of photos of Bryans Tactical Thong we managed to get all the slots we required and with the assistance and patience of the one and only Steve Madden we boardedplane for France, at this juncture I would like to express the Teams appreciation of Pat Cooks offer of ammunition if our "solution" did not in fact work out. Thankfully we did not have to call on Pat but it was good to know that we had a plan B. I won’t go into great detail in relation to our ammunition debacle but just let’s say DHL would not be our preferred carrier and we would give a big thumbs up to our own Airline Aer Lingus. The undoubted highlight of the match was Paul Smiths excellent result in Senior Standard , he was so close to being in the shoot offs on Saturday Morning , and that folks would have being the icing on the cake on what can only be described a outstanding match . As part of the deliberations of the IPSC General Council I am working on a committee tasked with examining the future of Airsoft in IPSC Worldwide. As a result of the review of the squads performance we have invited Nicholas Flood to advise on implementing a development programme going forward to the next Euro Match in Serbia in 2010. Nicholas is one of Irelands the Worlds foremost shooting athletes and we greatly appreciate his participation with Andrew Pedlow, Paul Daly and Pat Murphy. In putting this programme in place. As and from the beginning of 2008 we have a new Competitions Committee , this group is tasked with organizing matches during the forthcoming year and would be delighted to facilitate any club interested in hosting a sanctioned match .
Web Site
During the year we have changed our hosting service for our website, special thanks to Mike Power for getting our initial site off the ground and maintaining it for the first couple of years, Mike has moved both house and job and although he is still very actively involved in IPSA Committee he has passed the cyber space baton to Willie O Donoghue and Pat Murphy, the lads have worked tirelessly to get the new site up and running, with a new logo and branding coming on line in February! In this instance thanks go to another friend and member of the association Pat Lough, Pat has organized a design Competition amongst a group of Design Students for our new Logo. The web site has an online match entry facility with a further addition of a paypal facility in the next two months just in time for the new season. Pat would welcome interesting articles and match reports for the website
Practical Shotgun
We are planning our first competition license courses for PSG, if you are interested in competing in PSG then contact Paul Daly for further details of dates and course requirements
SSAI Membership
We applied by email for membership of the SSAI in October of 2006, it would seem that despite a number of emails from the SSAI advising that they had in fact received our application and sound knowledge of discussions amongst the SSAI we have being advised that as we had not formally applied we must in fact apply in writing on paper. I have sent in a typed letter by registered post and we await the outcome of the SSAI further deliberations.
Firearms Review Committee
Despite my best efforts I was unable to secure a seat at the firearms review committee. This was despite lobbying on our behalf by both Deputy Johnny Brady and Minister Dempsey. Although I was disappointed and somewhat dismayed at the outcome of our discussions with the Dept of Justice I can assure you that the views and concerns of the IPSA are being presented at committee.
International Matches
I am delighted that the IPSA will be running our first Level 3 Handgun Match in September 2008, the working group is currently examining two possible locations for the match with an announcement expected at the end of January. This is major undertaking for the association, but I have no doubt that the match will be a great success and will set the foundations many more Level 3 Matches in Ireland. I would also like to congratulate the Kells RPC, they are hosting the UK Level 3 Handgun Championships in June of this year. I would urge all IPSA members to support this match, if you have never shot a Level 3 match it will be a great experience and I can assure you of a warm welcome from our friends in the Kells Club. Further details can be found on the IPSC web site under the calendar section.
John O`Toole
During the year we regretfully accepted the resignation of our hardworking and diligent PRO John O`Toole. John’s advice and counsel have always being given with the best interests of IPSC/IPSA. John used his all his undoubted abilities for the benefit of our association. On behalf of the association I want to thank John for his hard work on our behalf and wish him the best of luck in his new role in An Post. The Committee has asked Pat Murphy to take on the role of pro; Pat has agreed and has already a piece ready for publication in the New Year.
Conclusion
Our association membership is now approaching the 175 mark, and I hope with the introduction of practical shotgun we will see many more new members in 2008.
The management committee work literally day in day out, with mobile phone bills to match their commitment to the IPSA, and for all the effort and time away from their own families I on your behalf thank them most sincerely. I would like to thank our match host for 2007 MNSI, and the many companies and IPSA Members that donated prizes for our summer shoot, and to you our members that traveled to compete, build, patch and generally help out for the benefit of your association.
It was an honor to represent the IPSA at this year’s congress, and the sense of pride that each squad member had when they paraded behind the Tricolor at the Opening Ceremony in France will live with them for ever. The World Championships are being held in Bali this year and it is our intention to send a team to represent Ireland at this match. Finally a celebration dinner was organized last December to celebrate and reminisce on a fantastic 10 days in France in September , what followed was something that I or Mairead neither expected or more importantly deserved , the presentation of both the flowers ( for Mairead !!!) and the truly magnificent piece of crystal and American Black Walnut stand to yours truly was something I will always treasure , a unique gift made all the more special by the thought and effort that went in to its crafting ., thanks lads .
And as I am wont to say at the end of match or a meal or even a few jars we never had a bad one yet .Thanks for all the hard work and support during the year
Gods grace and health in 2008.
John FitzGerald RD IPSA