Although the two associations cooperated, particularly in international contexts, these two separate Scouting organisations (SAI and the much larger CBSI) operated as separate entities through the latter half of the 20th century. 2004 Merger On 1 January 2004, the two organisations were merged to form 'Scouting Ireland'. Each organisation had added 'Scouting Ireland' to their names in the decade before the merger. The merger was sanctioned in May 2003, when both associations agreed to join together to form a new single association. This in turn had followed from decisions in 1998 to set this process in motion. , Scouting Ireland had over 45,000 members across the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland, where it works in tandem with the Scout Association in Northern Ireland (SANI), which is part of The Scout Association in the United Kingdom. This number consists of 34,000 young people, and 11,000 adult volunteers. In 2019, the numbers were, over 38,000 were juvenile members, and 12,000 adult volunteers. Controversies Safeguarding issues resulted in controversy in 2017 and 2018, though the organisation and individual Scout Groups emphasised that operations continued as usual. 2017 review In July 2017, Scouting Ireland commissioned a review of the handling of child protection cases, which included an initial check on a small sample of more serious allegations. Arising from this review, led by safeguarding specialist Ian Elliott, a recommendation was made in November 2017 that the files on all historic cases of alleged abuse be further checked, in particular to understand if persons against whom allegations were made were still active in the organisation. The review did not make any assessment of allegations, major or minor, but noted areas for improvement in handling such cases, such as "without prejudice" suspensions instead of the then-operational "voluntary stepping aside" approach, and a recommendation against lobbying by accusees, which it concluded was happening in some cases. It was also reported that there were sometimes tensions between professional staff and volunteers, with the former feeling pressure from volunteers, while some volunteers perceived "heavy-handed" treatment of some allegations. The organisation made changes to its processes in response to the work of Elliott, including implementation of the “suspension without prejudice” concept, pending investigation, and plans for recruitment of a safeguarding co-ordinator and additional child-protection officers. Funding suspension and officer changes The historic handling of one case, dating back to 2009 and relating to allegation by a then-18 year old