Suggestions

The following suggestions have been gathered from long-time sober members, active in service, from across Ireland. They are offered in a spirit of goodwill, grounded in the Traditions, and with confidence in the fellowship's capacity to reflect and renew itself through its own Group Conscience process.

1. Review of the Service Handbook

That the General Service Board commission a review of the Service Handbook to identify any edits made since 2000 that cannot be directly attributed to a motion originated by a specific group and advanced through the structure — from Group Conscience, through Area and Intergroup, and on to Conference.

The Traditions place authority with the groups. Where changes to the Handbook cannot be traced to that source, the fellowship deserves to know, and the opportunity exists to either ratify them properly or reconsider them. This is not a criticism of those who made the changes, but an affirmation of the process by which changes ought to be made.

2. Conference Motions to be Communicated in Advance

That motions coming before Conference be communicated to groups in sufficient time for each group to consider them at a Group Conscience meeting, and for the aggregate of that conscience to be brought to Conference by GCSDs.

The Delegate's role is to carry the voice of the groups they represent. For that to be meaningful, groups need to know what is being decided, and have a genuine opportunity to deliberate before the vote is taken. This suggestion asks only that the structure work as the Traditions intend it to work.

3. Trustee Appointments via the Structure

That Trustees be appointed through a process of group nomination, carried up through the structure and agreed at Intergroup level — in the same way that Delegates and Intergroup Secretaries are chosen.

Intergroups are well placed to assess whether an individual is suitable to represent them in this forum. Rooting Trustee appointments in the structure rather than in self-selection or co-option would strengthen the accountability of the General Service Board to the fellowship it serves, and bring the process into closer alignment with the Ninth Tradition's principle that AA's servants are trusted servants — they do not govern.

What you can do

There are three motions on the Documents page. If your group thinks any of them are useful, please discuss at Group Conscience and, if moved to do so, you can send to your Area for presentation to Intergroup and Conference.