They include the major discussion and decision points made by the Board at each meeting. Summaries will be typically posted within 14 days of each meeting.

Meeting #1: 12 February 2019

Venue: Ballymascanlon House, Dundalk
Present: Ross McCollum (Chair), Samuel Beckett, Bill Cunningham, Derek Dockrell, Andrew Fleming, David Griffin, Michael Howard, Eddie Lewis, Greg Molins, Anne Nolan, Frank Sowman, Alan Waite
Apologies: Nil

European T20 competition
• The Board gave approval for Management to finalise the agreement to sanction a new T20 franchise competition that will involve participation by Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and Cricket Netherlands. The competition will start in 2019, and involve 33 matches played across three countries, with each nation hosting two franchise teams.
• The Board accepted the recommendation to sanction the event with ‘GS Holding Inc’ – who will provide the funding and operate the event in partnership with the three cricket boards.
• A media release (link) was subsequently published with further details about the competition.

Budget and Commercial Matters
• The Board endorsed management’s 2019 Budget Submission, which projected a €10M budget for the year. The budget, which was contingent upon the final confirmation of revenues from the proposed European T20 competition, will see the organisation deliver its largest-ever programme of international and domestic first-class cricket, and continue its support for Provincial Union development and growth.
• The Board also supported, in principle, support for investment in a fan-centric digital programme to support the strategic intent to ‘make cricket mainstream’, and support the increase in remuneration for match officials. Further funding was committed to improving turf and facility management, as well as strengthening the talent pathway system.
• The Board was updated on commercial partnerships, including the announcement (link) of Test Triangle as Cricket Ireland’s new IT Services Partner – the latter of which was a split sponsorship between direct financial support and in-kind services provision.
• Tickets are currently on sale for the home ODI against England, and the ODI Tri-Series between Ireland, West Indies and Bangladesh. Tickets will go on sale for the two series in Bready and Stormont in March 2019.

Cricket Matters
• The Board receive an update on the progress of the Girl’s and Women’s Cricket Strategy, approved to proceed at the December 2018 Board Meeting (link). Maeve Buckley has been appointed as the consultant to lead the project, with the aim of delivering a strategy to the Board in mid-2019.
• The Board endorsed the release of the women’s home fixtures for 2019, which was subsequently announced (link). The Board noted the fixtures against Scotland have been approved, however specific match dates will be confirmed once the dates and venue of the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament is public.
• The Board noted contract offers relating to the women’s senior squad and the Emerging Player contracts would be confirmed in April 2019.

Provincial Union Development
• The Board was updated on the Provincial Union development process, including a recent workshop led by the Chief Executive, and attended by the ICC Regional Manager for Europe, Ed Shuttleworth, and the four Provincial Union Chairs and General Managers. The workshop looked at a range of matters, including proposed funding models and reporting standards to govern the distribution of the significant funding now flowing from CI to the Provincial Unions according to best practice. Mr Shuttleworth wrote in a subsequent note: “I truly believe such a proactive and professional conversation would be not be possible in most federations. That this can happen is testament to all of your hard work.”

Governance Matters
• The new Governance Committee, established via approval at the December 2018 Board Meeting, reported on Cricket Ireland’s compliance with the Sport Ireland Governance Code – noting that all actions required by the organisation were now completed. In addition, the Committee reviewed a number of policies relating to Board and Committee membership, including the Induction Checklist, Code of Conduct, Confidentiality Policy and Complaints Form.
• The Board noted the final Strategic Plan Scorecard - Year 3 (2018) (link) which outlines progress of the organisation against Strategic Plan objectives.