The following pages are designed to give an insight into the structure and organisation of the group and what is required of members. This information was taken from the 8ú Calafort Members Handbook, which is distributed to each member, and also contains all the necessary forms for parental consent and contact details for leaders in the group.

The Scout Movement

The Global Perspective

The origins of the Scout movement date back to August 1907 when a group of 20 boys attended what was probably the first ever Summer Camp at Brownsea Island in the south of England. The organiser of that camp and as a consequence, founder of the Scout Movement was Robert Baden-Powell, a distinguished soldier, war hero and later to become Lord Baden-Powell.

While serving in South Africa during the Boer War, Baden-Powell was forced to rely heavily on boys and younger adults to withstand enemy attack and hold out under siege in difficult conditions. He was immediately struck not only by how efficient these young soldiers proved to be but also by their enthusiasm and interest in learning basic survival skills – essential for soldiers in South Africa at that time!

Following the success of the Brownsea Island camp, Baden-Powell set out in writing his ideas for the skills, training methods and activities which he thought would be of interest to young people and which form the basis of today’s scouting programmes.

Since 1907 some 250 million children, young adults (and some not so young adults) have been members of the scout movement. There are currently in excess of 25 million active members in more than 150 countries around the world with the membership doubling in the last 20 years.

The Irish Dimension

The Irish Dimension

Following its foundation in 1907, scouting quickly spread to Ireland and in 1908 the first troops were established in Ireland in Greystones and Dundalk. Today there are several thousand scouts in groups throughout Ireland.

In many countries, there are several scout organisations each owing its existence to some historical, cultural and even religious origin. In any event, all are affiliated to the World Scout Movement which has its headquarters in Geneva.

In Ireland up to 1 January 2004 there are two scout organisations. Up to then our Group was a part of Scouting Ireland SAI (formerly known as the Scout Association of Ireland), the other organisation was Scouting Ireland CSI (formerly known as the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland). On 1 January 2004 the two organisations merged to form Scouting Ireland.

Scouting Ireland has a structure that one might expect from any national charitable, sporting or cultural organisation. There is a central governing body with appointed national officers overseeing overall organisation, administration, policy and rules.

Further information about Scouting Ireland can be obtained from:

Scouting Ireland
National Office,
Larch Hill
Dublin 16
Phone: 5946300,
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
website: www.scouts.ie.