Men’s Health Forum in Ireland
Minutes
September 5th, 2006
Committee Meeting
Present: Finian, Gerry, Alan, Majella
Trustees: Colin, Sé (Chair), Mary, Fergal, Paula (Minutes)
Apologies: Noel, Owen, Barry
Minutes of previous meeting were circulated by Majella and were subsequently
adopted.
1. Meeting with Mary Harney – 21st of September, 12noon
The questions were asked;
o What are we asking her for?
o Who is meeting with her?
What are we asking her for?
It was proposed that the approach taken to the meeting should;
o Inform the Tanáiste of the background to MHFI and what we have
achieved to date
o Name the great potential that MHFI in supporting men’s health into the
future
o State the difficulty of fulfilling that potential without resources
o Seek funding for a worker (EUR60,000)
It was proposed that the worker could be involved in;
o Advocating for men’s health on an ongoing basis
o Act as an independent voice on an advisory committee to oversee the
implementation of the forthcoming men’s health policy
o Be involved in the management of Men’s Health Week
o Generate a partnership approach to work done by MHFI i.e. liase and
involve other agencies and organisation in our work and us in theirs
o Play an ongoing role with the proposed partnerships with National Suicide
Review Group (Derek Chambers) and the Cancer proposal which Owen
Metcalf spoke of
It was felt that an “approach document” or paper outlining the above should be
prepared to support those in the meeting and to leave with the Tanáiste’s
advisors to consider afterwards.
Who is meeting with her?
o
o
o
o
o
o
Colin Fowler (? Availability)
Sé Franklin (available to attend)
Mary Sheehan (available to attend)
Fergal Fox (? Availability)
Paula Carroll (unable to attend)
Gerry McElwee (unable to attend)
o
o
o
o
o
o
Finian Murray (available to attend)
Majella McEntagart (? Availability)
Noel Richardson (unable to attend)
Owen Metcalf (unable to attend)
Alan George (unable to attend)
Barry McHale (? Availability)
I am not sure what decision was taken here
2.
Conference Summary
Evaluation
Fergal circulated a summary of the conference evaluation. Colin will post this on
the website with a 3 line introduction that Fergal will prepare. In response to
comments regarding the venue and catering the following will be posted under
the evaluation summary in a paragraph;
a.
we are a charity without core funding and are working off a very
modest budget, and
b.
a number of people were supported to attend the conference so the
EUR50 by other attendees contributed to the diversity of those who
attended.
Presentations
It is unlikely that we will be able to post presentations / abstracts of presentations
on the web at this stage. Paula did contact Tony Humphries regarding the
journal articles promised but did not get a reply.
BBC Evaluation
The BBC evaluation of men’s health week is underway and Alan will circulate it in
the next few weeks.
Outstanding Monies & Receipts
o Receipts must be sent to about 20 people. Fergal will organise that his
admin support will do this and Alan will forward a copy of a receipt to him.
o Approximately EUR1900 has yet to be “chased up” from the conference.
3.
Meeting with HSE – Maria Lordon-Dunphy
Finian and Sé fed back to the group regarding this meeting.
o A one page proposal must be sent to Maria requesting funding of
EUR5,000 for 2006 as per that received from HSE for 2005.
o When the men’s health policy is published, the HSE will seek funding from
the DoHC to implement it. As there will be no additional posts appointed
to support the policy, Maria felt that much of the work will be
“outsourced” on a contractual basis and that there is a potential role for
MHFI in becoming involved in some of this work. In particular Maria saw
a role for MHFI in advocating for men’s health via the media.
4.
Getting a Worker
Much discussion was had about employing someone to work for the MHFI
between now and Christmas to fulfil a number of the commitments / work load
as per sections 1-3 above. The following pieces of work were identified for the
remainder of 2006;
o The preparation of the approach document for the meeting with Mary
Harney.
o Chasing up outstanding funds from the conference
o Drafting the proposal for EUR5,000 for the HSE
o Facilitating a day with trustees of the MHFI to strategically plan for 2007
o Actively seek external funding for the MHFI
Alan left the meeting while an approach to getting this work done was discussed.
It was agreed that we should ask Alan to tender for this work but that our upper
limit was EUR3,750 stipulated. Alan to report back to group via email by
Wednesday the 7th. Alan to be removed from yahoo group for the day while
proposal is discussed.
5.
EMHF
Sé will contact Eric Savoy for clarity on our membership status and role within
the EMHF.
6.
Suicide Project
Finian is to contact Derek Chambers to arrange a meeting regarding working in
partnership with the NSRG.
7.
Cancer Conference - Irish Cancer Society
The cancer conference in November was flagged.
Gerry spoke of research being done within the UCF that may be presented in one
of the workshops. Sé and Finian to follow up with the ICS.
8.
Irish Cancer Foundation
Owen to follow up with Etta Campbell regarding partnership work in the future.
Date of next meeting:
Chair for next meeting:
Minutes for next meeting:
October 23rd, PJ Carroll Building, IT Dundalk
Alan George
Mary Sheehan