Philip:

I do respect your position, and as I have said before I can only imagine how frustrating it must be right now to be a member of Clontarf Comhaltas. I'm afraid that on the legalities of things, I do see the point of the Ardchomhairle: the high council does have the right to dissolve a branch, though as you say the County Board also has that right. With regard to the loan, I have answered that elsewhere: after waiting for an unconscionable period of time to secure such a loan, the branch presented an agreement to the trustees that could only be signed if the trustees had direct control of the money as spent. A simple enquiry to the trustees at any point in the process of arranging the loan would have confirmed this. I can only assume the hope was that the by-then-precarious financial situation of the project would have compelled the trustees to act despite their misgivings.

But considering the present, at this point a loan has been secured, and with control over the remainder of the construction project the trustees have indeed committed Comhaltas to cover the amount. The branch having been very unfortunately dissolved, my suggestion was that the best opportunity of working together (and continuing the dialogue) will be in the context of the newly-formed branch of Craobh Chluain Tarbh.