NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY AND BUSINESS TRUST, ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER 2009 @ 6.15pm, LONG GALLERY, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

Present: See attached list

In Attendance:Ms. Sheila. McClelland, Assembly Secretariat, Mr Ivor Gibson, Assembly Secretariat, Mrs. Judith. Murdoch, Assembly Secretariat, Mrs Laura St John, Assembly Secretariat, Miss Pamela Carson, Assembly Secretariat, Miss Elizabeth Connolly, Assembly Secretariat, Mrs Jennifer Pleavin, Assembly Secretariat.

Apologies:      Ivan McCabrey,Mivan, Richard Hogg, Limavady Gear, Lord Rana, Andras House, Robin Newton MLA, Declan O’Loan MLA.

1.  NIABT Accounts 2008/2009

A copy of the Trustee’s Report and accounts balance sheet for 2008-2009 was made available to each member for scrutiny. The Chairman, Sean Neeson, invited David Gray from FGS McClure Watters to present the detail of the Accounts. The Chair noted that the Board approved the content on the Accounts at a Board meeting on 5 October 2009.

It was proposed that FGS McClure Watters be retained as Auditor / Accountant. This motion was proposed by Dawn Purvis MLA and seconded by Lord Ballyedmond.

2.  Adopt Minutes 2008

The minutes of the Annual General Meeting for  2008 were agreed by the members as a true record of the meeting. This motion was proposed by John Rooney and seconded by Alec McRitchie.

3.  Election of Board of Trustees

Under the NIABT Articles of Association there is a requirement to annually rotate the Trustees to the Board of Trustees. 3 non parliamentarian nominees are to be elected to the Board this year. Lord Ballyedmond from Norbrook Laboratories and Katherine McDonald from Stratagem have both retired and been renominated by their companies. James Devlin from BT and John O’Farrell from ICTU have been co-opted to the Board this year but their co-opted status ends at this AGM. However, both have been nominated for election to the Board. Election papers were issued to business members last month and as a result James Devlin from BT, Lord Ballyedmond from Norbrook Laboratories and Katherine McDonald from Stratagem were elected to the Board of Trustees. The Chair also proposed to co-opt John O’Farrell to represent ICTU on the Board. This was unanimously agreed by the Board of Trustees for 2008-2009 (agreed by a show of hands). In addition, there are 3 Parliamentarian Members to be elected to the Board of Trustees. Robin Newton MLA and Declan O’Loan MLAhave been retired and renominated by their respective parties. Sinn Fein has replaced Jennifer McCann with Paul Butler as their representative. This was unanimously agreed by the Board of Trustees for 2009-2010 (agreed by a show of hands)

The Chair confirmed the new Board of Trustees as follows:

Mr. Sean Neeson MLA            Alliance Party

Mr. Leslie Cree MLA               UUP

Ms. Dawn Purvis MLA             PUP

Mr Paul Butler MLA                 Sinn Fein

Mr Robin Newton MLA            DUP

Mr Declan O’Loan MLA           SDLP

Dr Gareth McGrath                  Director of Outreach

Lord Ballyedmond                   Norbrook Laboratories

Ms Katherine McDonald          Stratagem

Mr William Wright                    Wrightbus

Mr James Devlin                     BT NI

Mr. Alec McRitchie                  Bombardier Aerospace

Mr. John Rooney                     Rooney Fish

Mr. Glyn Roberts                     NI Independent Retail Trade Association

Co-opted

Mr John O’Farrell                    NI-ICTU

4.  AOB

The Chair informed those present at the AGM that there would be a short recess which would be followed by a panel debate in the Long Gallery.