There's no question of bankruptcy or evading responsibility for debts. The former committee was dissolved because it consistently mis-managed their side of a joint construction project, refused to take advice on financial resolution, and was deemed to put Comhaltas as a whole into disrepute. While I have enormous sympathy for the branch members caught in the middle, it was their elected representatives who put the branch into jeopardy. The branch members voted to "work with Comhaltas", yes, but without the executive committee coming up with an arrangement to share both responsibility and debts for the project, contractors were remaining unpaid. The resultant months-long stand-off was not good for anyone, including the reputation of the branch.

As I've said before, I believe that a fundamental error was made by the branch in allowing the recently-elected executive committee to also run the construction project. That conflict-of-interest meant that when things got out of hand, there was no restraining influence within the branch to put things back on track. By thinking of the theatre project as exclusively "their project" rather than as a shared responsibility to manage other people's money, a mindset developed whereby Maurice's committee stopped paying attention to what was in the best interest of the branch, the project, and Comhaltas as a whole, and focused instead on maintaining their own personal control. In the process, they failed to communicate the situation (or, apparently, even the nature of the shared project) to the branch membership they represented.

In the end, the branch committee was dissolved because there was no other choice. In the long run, that decision will probably turn out to be the right one if it gets the building operational, to the credit of the branch and the movement as a whole. It was an unfortunate, wrenching, and ultimately necessary decision.

OK. At this point, we're definitely re-hashing old ground that I believe has been covered earlier. Though I appreciate that many here disagree with my assessment of the situation, I thank you for your kind attention and (mostly) civil discourse. Like everyone else here, I will be looking forward to future developments relating to Craobh Chluain Tarbh and to the Clasaċ centre. If someone wants to email me privately off-list, I will do my best to respond.