National CSPA participation
Participation at the CSPA National Annual General Meeting ( AGM
Two of the key arguments to merge the then Northern Ireland Civil Service Pensioners’ Association ( NICSPA ) with the Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance in 1980 as that the Northern Ireland Branch of CSPA would be able to participate fully in the CSPA decision making process by attending & voting on the Motions tabled for discussion at the National Annual General Meeting ( AGM ) which takes place each October each year & would have a reserved seat on the organisation’s National Council. Whilst the Branch does send a Delegate , each year to the AGM , it has taken the position, on principle, to only vote on Motions which directly impact on Northern Ireland members and to deliberately abstain on voting for motions which only impact on members in England , Scotland or Wales or indeed on two or three of the other UK countries.
Sine 1980 CSPA NI has sent delegates regularly to the National AGM & from time to time submitted motions. Over recent years the Branch has submitted motions on the creation of a National Care Service , The Pensioners Triple Lock , Quality Assured Decision Making in Care Homes & Funding for Dementia Research.
Participation on the CSPA National Council
As reported elsewhere the Northern Ireland Branch is allocated a reserved seat on the CSPA National Executive Council (NEC). That person can attend the three meetings per year which are held in London and also attend the National AGM, as an NEC Member.
The Branch representative was, for many years, Tony Damoglou, but has also been represented by Sam Caul, Jim Lilley and Roisin Lilley. Tony McMullan, our Branch Secretary, is currently our representative.
In 2022 CSPA decided to allocate a reserved seat on the National Executive Council to female members, conscious as they were that whilst the majority of members are female, the number of women on the National Council was small. The Branch agreed to nominate Roisin Lilley and were delighted when she was elected.
Then in early 2024 a vacancy arose for the National Vice Chair position on the Council. The Branch agreed to nominate Roisin to the position which she won decisively in a by-election. Roisin stood for the position again ( it’s an Annual Election ) at the 2024 National AGM where she retained the position.
again ( it’s an Annual Election ) at the 2024 National AGM where she retained the position with a bigger majority
