Conor O’Higgins, President of Section Ireland, hosted and convened a meeting of the Gimborn Talks group in Kilkenny, Ireland between the 11th and 14th January 2022, with the meeting taking place on 12th January, followed by social and cultural activities the next day.
The meeting considered a full agenda with the emphasis on services each section provides to its membership, with particular attention given to areas that would encourage greater participation of young police officers in IPA professional, cultural and social activities.The group consists of Presidents (or representatives) of 13 IPA Sections, and the January 2022 meeting was attended by Conor O’Higgins (Ireland), Clive Wood (UK), Martin Hoffmann (Austria), Willem Schewe (Netherlands), Baldur Ólafsson (Iceland), Kjell Andersson (Sweden), Carine Pieters (Belgium), Oliver Hoffmann (Germany), Michael Boolsen (Denmark) and Declan O’Byrne (Ireland). Apologies were received by the group’s representatives of Sections Norway, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland, as well as IEB member Michael Walsh.
Each delegate briefed the meeting on IPA activities in their section and other issues needing attention, in particular motivation and encouragement of greater participation by junior members. The Mayor of Kilkenny City, Councillor Andrew McGuinness, attended the meeting to officially welcome the international delegates to the city, and sat for the official photograph to record the occasion. He was pleased, as first citizen of Kilkenny, that such an international group representing in the region of 120,000 members of the International Police Association would meet in Kilkenny City. The Mayor spoke about how the services provided by the Irish Police Service (An Garda Síochána) are appreciated by the people of Kilkenny and the Irish nation.
Presentations were also given by the DMSC, the Canadian company, on the new voting software of the IEB, as well as by the Police Special Olympics Torch Run.
Conor O’Higgins, President IPA Ireland