Board ReportThis year’s Conference, held in Marchwill reconvene for one day inSeptember to conclude its business. Itdeparted from the ‘theatre style’conference to the ‘round tablestyle’conference for one session, thusallowing for greater engagement bydelegates in the more ‘primarypurpose’ affairs of our Fellowship.Areas such as Public Information, ourpublications, the official AA websiteand AA app., our archival resourcesand finance were among the topicsdeliberated over. The round tablesviewed their briefs by addressing threequestions viz. 1. What was workingwell, 2 What was not working well and3.What did we need more of. Four sub-committees are now in trainto tease out further issues that theyhave begun to address and will reportback to next year’s Conference ontheir findings.

The Public Information (PI) sub-committee, set up by Conference in2015 gave a very comprehensivereport on its work andrecommendations and these willappendix to the outgoing Conferenceminutes in due course. The PI sub-committee put together a veryconsidered pack for PI committeesand copies were presented to eachIntergroup Secretary for disseminationand discussion through the structure.A new poster for PI proposed by the PIsub-committee was adopted byConference. The PI sub-committeeremains in situ to explore further therecommendations made andadditional work that needs to bebrought to a conclusion.

New Public Information Poster

The sub-committee on the 70thcommemorative year of AA in Irelandalso reported to Conference. Acommemorative one-day special willbe held in November to coincide withthe first open meeting of AA in 1946.Intergroups are also being asked toorganize their own commemorativecalendar of events for the month ofNovember... our traditional gratitudemonth. (Details to follow)

Conference thanked both committeesfor their work on behalf of theFellowship.

The audited accounts for 2014/2015were presented to Conference andduly adopted.

For a more detailed report on ourConference please see ConferenceMinutes which will issue in duecourse.

News Sheet April/May 2016 Page 1

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS GENERAL SERVICE CONFERENCE OF IRELAND

The views and opinions expressed in The News Sheet are notnecessarily those of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous

in Ireland as a whole.

Declaration of UnityThis we owe to AA’s future:

To place our common welfare first;To keep our fellowship united.

For on AA unity depend our lives;and the lives of those to come.

News Sheet April/May 2016 Page 2

Spotlight on the respectiveresponsibilities of theTrustees

Each edition of the News Sheet willfeature the work of one of the BoardTrustees. This will give members agreater feel for the kinds of servicecarried out by each respectivemember, including the BoardSecretary.

The Trustee charged with the dutiesand responsibilities for PublicRelations, Archives and OfficeManagement is Michael O’R. Michaelworks in tandem with Breda our BoardSecretary in all matters relating to therunning of GSO and staff relations.Communications to and from theBoard and the office staff is mediatedby the Office Committee. Michael O’R is also briefed withresponsibility for the Archives.Members’ requests including overseasrequests, to view the Archives aremanaged by Michael. The Archivesare displayed each year at the All-Ireland Convention and arepermanently located in a dedicatedroom in GSO solely for this purpose.Much of the material is digitalised anda time line of the archives for inclusionin the AA website is in process.Michael also chairs the 2016 All-Ireland Organising ConventionCommittee.

Extract from Tradition Nine (longversion) “All such representatives are to be guidedin the spirit of service, for true leaders inA.A. are but trusted and experiencedservants of the whole. They derive no realauthority from their titles; they do notgovern. Universal respect is the key totheir usefulness.”

How to Find a Meeting AppTechnical difficulties have been reported inrelation to some operating systems. To fix

the problem in Android try:· Clicking on ‘settings’· Under ‘connections’ click

‘location’· Turn this option to ‘on’

For other Operating Systems try checking your settings.

To Handle Sobriety

As the sober days grew into sobermonths and then into sober years, anew and beautiful life began toemerge from the shambles of myformer existence. The relationshipbetween my wife and me was restoredto a love and happiness that we hadnot known even before my alcoholismbecame acute. (She no longer weepsin the night.) As our children grew up,I was able to be a father to them whenthey most needed one. My companyadvanced me rapidly once myreliability was established again.Regaining my health,I became an avidjogger, sailor, and skier.

All these things and many, manymore, A.A. gave me. But above all, it

News Sheet April/May 2016 Page 3

View your News Sheet online at www.alcoholicsanonymous.ietaught me how to handle sobriety. Ihave learned how to relate to people;before A.A., I could never do thatcomfortably without alcohol. I havelearned to deal with disappointmentsand problems that once would havesent me right to the bottle. I havecome to realize that the name of thegame is not so much to stop drinkingas to stay sober. Alcoholics can stopdrinking in many places and manyways—but Alcoholics Anonymousoffers us a way to stay sober.

God willing, we members of A.A. maynever again have to deal with drinking,but we have to deal with sobrietyevery day. How do we do it? Bylearning through practising the TwelveSteps and through sharing atmeetings how to cope with theproblems that we looked to booze tosolve, back in our drinking days.

For example, we are told in A.A. thatwe cannot afford resentments andself-pity, so we learn to avoid thesefestering mental attitudes. Similarly,

we rid ourselves of guilt and remorseas we “clean out the garbage” fromour minds through the Fourth and FifthSteps of our recovery program. Welearn how to levelout the emotional swings that got usinto trouble both when we were upand when we were down.

We are taught to differentiate betweenour wants (which are never satisfied)and our needs (which are alwaysprovided for). We cast off the burdensof the past and the anxieties of thefuture, as we begin to live in thepresent, one day at a time. We aregranted “the serenity to accept thethings we cannot change” and thuslose our quickness to anger and oursensitivity to criticism.

Above all, we reject fantasizing andaccept reality.The more I drank, themore I fantasized everything. Iimagined getting even for hurts andrejections. In my mind’s eye I playedand replayed scenes in which I wasplucked magically from the bar where Istood nursing a drink and wasinstantly exalted to some position ofpower and prestige. I lived in a dreamworld. A.A. led me gently from thisfantasizing to embrace reality withopen arms. And I found it beautiful!For, at last, I was at peace withmyself. And with others. And with God.

(From 4th edition Big Book pgs 558-559)

59th All Ireland Convention

15th-17th April 2016

Tullamore Court HotelTullamore

County Offaly

Bookings: Tullamore Court Hotel 057 934 6666 res@tullamorecourthotel.ie www.offalytourism.com info@offalytourism.com

+353 1 842 0700gso@alcoholicsanonymous.iewww.alcoholicsanonymous.ie

General Service Office Unit 2, Block C Santry Business ParkSwords Road, Dublin 9

alcoholicsanonymousTHE JOY OF LIVING

Responsibility DeclarationI am responsible.

When anyone, anywhere,reaches out for help,

I want the hand of AA always to be there.And for that: I am responsible.

News Sheet April/May 2016 Page 4

General Service Office of Alcoholics AnonymousUnit 2, Block C, Santry Business Park

Swords Road, Dublin 9Telephone: (01) 8420700 Fax: (01) 8420703

gso@alcoholicsanonymous.ie

The News Sheet is intended as an aid to SERVICE throughout the Fellowship in Ireland.Your suggestions as to form and content of the News Sheet will be especially welcome.

Service Structure of The Fellowship in Ireland

Intergroup

A.A. GroupsEach Group is entitled tosend two GSRs to AreaEach Area send four membersas Delegates to Intergroup

The Board itself is made up of four AlcoholicTrustees and three non-Alcoholics Trustees.

Alcoholics Anonymous has been

called an upside-down organization

because, as the structure chart shows,

the Groups are on top and the Trustees

at the bottom.Bill W. wrote in Concept 1 “The AA Groups

today hold ultimate responsibility and final

authority for our world service..... “.Then in

Concept 2, Bill made it clear that the Groups

“delegated to the Conference complete authority

for the active maintenance of our world service and

thereby made the Conference... the actual voice

and effective conscience for our whole society”.

Bill’s early vision was of a worldwide structure.

However, the Conference structures in countries

outside of the U.S./Canada evolved as

autonomous entities.

Four Delegates, known as ConferenceDelegates, represent their ProvincialIntergroup at ConferenceAA Conference includes The Board,The Board Secretary, the four IntergroupDelegates and Intergroup Secretarytogether with our two World Service Delegates

Area

Board

Conference

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