The Irish National Community and Voluntary Forum is made up of two delegates from each of the thirty four county and city fora. From this fifteen members are selected to sit on the National Executive. Currently five delegates are elected from the five regional fora and at the AGM a further ten are elected to make up the fifteen member Board.
The National Executive acts as the voice of the community and voluntary sector at national level in many ways. They lobby on issues of concern to our members right around the country whether it is the plight of two teacher schools, rural post offices or the threat to the local garda station. They seek representation at the discussion table so that the voice of the community and voluntary sector is heard.
In November 2009 following the County Leitrim Community Forum elections the two delegates selected to represent Leitrim were Philip Rooney from Rossinver and Margaret Sharkey from Dromahaire. They went forward to bring the concerns of Leitrim to the national table at a difficult time when funding was cut from the sector but they as part of the National Forum have succeeded in having fifty percent of the funding restored. It is a very challenging time for the sector and each forum has to show value for money to survive.
In April 2011 Margaret Sharkey was elected to the National Executive and one of her priorities is to seek a level of funding for Leitrim to enable us to work on a par with other counties which have bigger population bases. Currently a questionnaire is being completed to let the National Executive see how each county and city forum is being run and funded and what supports are in place so that the Executive can make a case to the Government for streamlined funding to meet the needs of communities nationwide.