Origins of the Irish Neurological Association.
The Irish Neurological Association (INA) was initiated in 1965 by Dr Eddie Martin with the assistance of Dr Michael Swallow, recently arrived in Belfast from London. Thus began the INA, drawing its membership from clinical neuroscientists in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, meeting yearly and providing a forum to present research findings.
Founding members of the Irish Neurological Association, on the occasion of the 25th meeting in 1989 in the home of Mr. Ian Bailey.
Left to right – Derek Gordon, John Lanigan, Niall O’Donohoe, Michael Swallow & Harold Millar.
In 2014, before the 50th meeting of the INA in the Titanic Centre in Belfast, Dr Jim Morrow asked Dr Stanley Hawkins to make a presentation on the history of the Association. At that time, the historic and valuable INA Minute book was not available. Dr Hawkins visited Eddie Martin and Michael Swallow, but archive material did not easily fall to hand. In 2019, after Dr Swallow’s death Nicky Swallow passed on to him a folder marked “INA”. That folder contained a paper presented in 1989 by Michael at the 25th annual meeting on the first 25 years of the INA. He has edited Dr Michael Swallow’s address and has included a foreword to the paper. Click here to view this important historic address.
On May 27 – 28th 2021, the 57th annual Irish Neurological Association Meeting will take place and will again draw support and participation from all neuroscience centres across the island of Ireland.