Declan, you're right, the way the branch handled the VAT does seem to have been a significant factor in Head Office's decision, but I find it hard to understand why the Head Office was so het up about it. The branch may not have followed the correct procedures, but the money ended up where it belonged - how could that be damaging to CCE? There's been no suggestion of financial impropriety, so far as I'm aware, and the branch insists that it believes it acted legally. A rap over the knuckles for not following CCE's internal financial procedures might be in order, but to use it as one of the excuses for dissolving the branch does seem excessive.

The financial difficulty the project found itself in is another matter. In the circumstances I don't see that Head Office had any option but to take control.   Assuming dissolution of the branch was the only constitutional way to achieve this, the question then is whether both parties did enough to avoid this, by engaging in discussions. The fact that both sides now seem to have taken entrenched positions suggests to me that perhaps they did not, although exactly who should bear most responsibility for this is not clear.

What's important now is to find a way forward. The hierarchy of Comhaltas must find a way of bringing back the disaffected members of the former branch and continuing to involve as many of them as possible in completing the project, with new controls and safeguards in place