Minutes of the I.F.I. Annual General Meeting held on Sunday 25/04/2010

· At around 2:45 it was announced that the quorum for the meeting (60 registered members) has been reached.
· The meeting started with Qur’an recitation by Br. Abdel Razak Farah.
· The Chairman of the meeting Br. Hidayat Mirza welcomed and thanked those present and read out the agenda for the meeting. The agenda were:
1) Presentation of the annual reports.
2) Discussion.
3) Election of Majlis Shura & yearly Trustee
· The Chairman then introduced Imam Yahya M. Al-Hussein to present a summary of the activity report for the year 2009. Imam Yahya went through the report highlighting the most important points. The report was distributed more than one week before and at the meeting as well.
· The Chairman then introduced Br. Khalid Mohammed, the Accountant of the I.F.I. to present the financial reports. Br. Khalid Mohammed presented the income and expenditure reports for the financial year 31/10/2008 to 31/10/2009. The report was posted on the notice board more than a week before the meeting.
· The Chairman then opened the meeting for discussion.
· There were a few questions about the North Dublin Muslim National School ; the teaching and learning problems and the newspaper reports of money owed by the school.
· Imam Yahya in his answer to these questions said that it is true that the whole school evaluation report of North Dublin Muslim National School which had come out in May 2009 pointed out to various weaknesses in the school. However, since then significant improvements have been made. The first breakthrough came when the school was able to employ for the first time - since it was established- a fully qualified permanent principal. This was a key factor for the progress of the school since most of the problems stemmed from the lack of proper leadership/management in the school. From May 2009 to April 2010 six meetings have been held between officials of the Department of Education and the school administration to discuss the problems as outlined in the whole school evaluation report and to monitor the progress that has been made. The Department of Education is now of the opinion that satisfactory progress has taken place.
· On the issue of money owed to the Department of Education by the school as a result of the latter paying gas and electricity bills on behalf of the school, the meeting was told that the school has started repayment to the Department of Education from the governmental grants received by the school.
· There was a question about the absence of full-time Muslim teachers in both Muslim schools and the procedure for appointment of part-time Muslim teachers who teach religion in the two schools. The meeting was informed about the lack of qualified primary school Muslim teachers who are recognised by the Department of Education. The meeting was told of the recent efforts of the newly established Muslim Primary Education Board to encourage young Muslim boys and girls to join education colleges to graduate as teachers, and post-graduate as well. In this regard a recent meeting took place between representatives of the Muslim Primary Education Board and the President of the Mary Immaculate College of Education in Limerick to discuss the possibilities of both undergraduate and post-graduate Muslim students joining the teacher training college.
· On the issue of appointment of part-time Muslim teachers, the Chairperson of the Board of Management of the Muslim National School , Clonskeagh told the meeting that it has been the practice of the Board to advertise vacant posts for part-time religion teachers. The last time there was a vacancy in 2008 the post was advertised on the notice board in both South Circular Road and Clonskeagh Mosques as well as on the internet.
· There was no further discussion and the Chairman decided to move to the next item of the agenda which was the election of Majlis ash-Shura members and the Yearly Trustee.
· The Chairman called upon the candidates to come forward to sign the declaration of loyalty and commitment to abide by the constitution of the I.F.I. The wording of the declaration was read out.
· As there were only six candidates for Majlis ash-Shura and one candidate for the post of Yearly Trustee, the candidates were deemed to be elected without voting.
· The six elected Majlis members for the year 2010 were:
1) Khalid Shushan .
2) Khadar Yuusuf .
3) Miftah Alabi-Oladipupo.
4) Mamadou Cisse.
5) Mohamed Saad.
6) Naveed Yousuf .
The elected yearly Trustee was:
1) Amir Hamza Waters
At around 4:00 p.m. the Chairman brought the A.G.M. to close.

We would like to thank all those who were present at the meeting and hope that next year more members will attend.

(Islamic Foundation of Ireland )