Scouting In Ireland

 

Scouting in Ireland can be traced right back to the the the early 20th century when Baden Powell established the first scouting headquarters in London.  Simultaneously, the Scout Council of Ireland was brought into being.  This body was largely autonomous although, like the Scout Council of Scotland, it was still responsible to it's parent body in England due to the political situation at the time.  The Scouting organisation remained active through the troubles and wars in the coming decades and come out stronger than ever

in 1937 the Scout Council of Ireland became the Scout Council of Eire in the 26 counties and then its name was changed again to the Boy Scout's of Ireland (B.S.I.) when the republic was declared in 1949.  By the 1930's however the Scout Council of Eire had a new Scouting Organisation to deal with in the form of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (C.B.S.I.).

The C.B.S.I. was formed in 1927 after demand necessitated the formation a Catholic Scout organisation. In 1927 the Archbishop of Dublin gave the churches permission for the founding of the C.B.S.I. which remained in operation right up until 2004 in the 32 counties of Ireland

Until 1968 however, the C.B.S.I. did not have international recognition from the World Organisation of Scout Movements (W.O.S.M.).  This was largely due to the fact that each country could only have one delegate at the International Scouting Councils and the Boy Scouts of Ireland (as they were known then) were established first.

To rectify this situation the Federation of Irish Scouting Organisations (F.I.S.A.) was founded.  F.I.S.A. was founded as an umbrella organisation embracing the C.B.S.I. and the B.S.I. with the Scout Association of Northern Ireland (S.A.N.I.) having observer status.

Until recently F.I.S.A. represented the Irish Scouting organisations at all International councils and operated in accordance with the interest of the two Scouting organisations in mind. Since the establishment of F.I.S.A. the two main scouting organisations have undergone massive changes.  In the early seventies the B.S.I. became the Scouting Association of Ireland (S.A.I.) and in 1997 the C.B.S.I. was renamed Scouting Ireland C.S.I.

Today F.I.S.A has ceased to exist as it is no longer necessary. As of January 1st 2004 Scouting Ireland came into being. This new organisation represents all Irish Scouts and is made up of all the members of the former SAI and CSI.