Its board of directors were Margot Slattery (chair), Simon Nugent, Muriel Walls, Séamus Dooley and Dr. Fergus Ryan.
The Taoiseach also launched GLEN's five-year strategic plan entitled "Building Sustainable Change" which set out the priorities of the organisation going forward, the main one being the enactment of legislation providing for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships.
[5] In the May 2007 Irish general election, all of the main political parties committed themselves to legislating in this area if they formed part of the new government.
Taking account of the options paper prepared by the Colley Group and the pending Supreme Court case, we will legislate for civil partnerships at the earliest possible date in the lifetime of the Government."
GLEN strongly welcomed the commitment to introduce change based on the findings of the Colley Report and looks forward to working with the government to bring about equality for the LGB population in Ireland.
The provisions outlined today will resolve many immediate and pressing issues faced by lesbian and gay couples and will also provide a platform for further progress.
At the launch of Seanad Debates on Civil Partnership July 2010, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern stated, "I want to compliment GLEN for the way in which they lobbied to bring us to where we are today.
[12] Members include major employers such as Accenture, IBM and University College Dublin, who as members receive a range of benefits and services including a dedicated client account manager, seminars on LGBT issues, networking events for LGBT employees, high quality training, benchmarking and other opportunities for companies to build their brand and reputation on diversity.
This culminated in a seminar event, "Globalisation, Diversity and Economic Renewal", launched by the Lord Mayor of Dublin and featuring Professor Sean Kay, author of Celtic Revival?
[13] This led to criticism by Breda O'Brien, patron of the largely Roman Catholic Iona Institute pressure group, that it is used funding from abroad to influence legislation and for political campaigning in elections such as during the Marriage Referendum.
[18] The issues relate unaccounted for expenses of up to €60,000,[19] the use of Government funding for political campaigns and the use of GLEN credit cards for personal purchases (later reimbursed).
While the cost of the printing had been reimbursed, the organisation sought clarification from the regulator in case it had breached rules limiting the involvement of charities in political campaigning.
[20] Following comments by Duggan, Mary Lou McDonald TD, said she intended to raise the issues around financial irregularites at GLEN at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.