Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1976

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SCHEDULE

An Bord Pleanála

Section 3 .

1. The Board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and power to sue and be sued in its corporate name and to acquire, hold and dispose of land.

2. The Board shall consist of a chairman and not less than four or more than ten ordinary members.

3. A person who is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein or for the time being is a member of a local authority shall be disqualified from being a member of the Board.

4. The chairmanship of the Board shall be wholetime and where the Government appoints a person who formerly held judicial office to be chairman of the Board the following provisions shall apply, namely, he shall be appointed by the Government in a wholetime capacity and the Government when making the appointment shall fix his term of office and, subject to Articles 6 and 12 of this Schedule, he shall hold his office on such terms and conditions as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for the Public Service, determines.

5. The chairman of the Board may resign his chairmanship by letter addressed to the Government and the resignation shall take effect as on and from the date of the receipt of the letter by the Government.

6. Where the chairman of the Board is a person who formerly held judicial office, the Government may remove him from the chairmanship if he has become incapable through ill-health of effectively performing his duties, or if he has committed stated misbehaviour, or if his removal appears to the Government to be necessary for the effective performance by the Board of its functions and in case a chairman of the Board is removed under this Article the Government shall cause to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas a statement in writing of the reasons for the removal.

7. Each ordinary member of the Board shall be appointed by the Minister and the Minister when making the appointment shall fix such member's term of office which shall not exceed three years and, subject to the foregoing and to Articles 10 and 12 of this Schedule, such member shall hold his office on such terms and conditions as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for the Public Service, determines.

8. An ordinary member appointed by the Minister may be appointed from among his serving officers.

9. A member of the Board shall be paid by the Board such remuneration (if any) and allowances for expenses as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for the Public Service, determines.

10. The Minister may remove from office an ordinary member of the Board who has become incapable through ill-health of effectively performing his duties, or who has committed stated misbehaviour, or whose removal appears to the Minister to be necessary for the effective performance by the Board of its functions, and in case a member of the Board is removed from office under this Article, the Minister shall cause to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas a statement in writing of the reasons for removal.

11. An ordinary member of the Board may resign his office as a member by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect as on and from the date of receipt of the letter by the Minister.

12. Where a member of the Board is nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann or for election to either House of the Oireachtas or becomes a member of a local authority he shall, upon accepting nomination as a member of Seanad Éireann, or upon nomination for such election, or upon becoming a member of the authority, as the case may be, cease to be a member of the Board.

13. A member of the Board whose term of office expires by the effluxion of time shall be eligible for reappointment.

14. Where a casual vacancy occurs among the members of the Board as a result of which there remain less than five such members the Government or the Minister, as may be appropriate, shall take such steps as are necessary to fill the vacancy as soon as possible.

15. The Board shall appoint one of its ordinary members to be deputy chairman but if, at any time, the person appointed ceases to be a member of the Board, he shall also cease at that time to be deputy chairman.

16. The Board shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the performance of its functions.

17. The Minister shall fix the date, time and place of the first meeting of the Board.

18. The quorum for a meeting of the Board shall be such as may from time to time be fixed by the Minister.

19. The chairman of the Board and each ordinary member of the Board at a meeting thereof shall have a vote.

20. Every question at a meeting of the Board shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and, in the event that voting is equally divided, the chairman shall have a casting vote.

21. Subject to Article 18 of this Schedule, the Board may act notwithstanding a vacancy among its members.

22. Subject to the provisions of this Act and to any regulations made by the Minister under the Principal Act or under section 20 of this Act and to the provisions of this Schedule, the Board shall regulate its procedure and business.

23. The Board may perform any of its functions through or by any of its members duly authorised by the Board in that behalf.

24. The Board may perform any of its functions, other than the act of deciding, determining, confirming, approving or extending a reference, appeal, order, notice, dispute or other matter with which the Board is concerned by virtue of section 14 or section 21 of this Act, through or by any person duly appointed by the Board in that behalf.

25. The Board shall, as soon as may be after its establishment, provide itself with a seal.

26. The seal of the Board shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman of the Board or some other member thereof authorised by the Board to act in that behalf.

27. Judicial notice shall be taken of the seal of the Board and every document purporting to be an instrument made by the Board and to be sealed with the seal (purporting to be authenticated in accordance with Article 26 of this Schedule) of the Board shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such instrument without proof unless the contrary is shown.

28. (1) The Minister may, with the concurrence of the Minister for the Public Service, make a scheme for the granting of pensions, gratuities or other allowances to or in respect of the chairman and wholetime ordinary members of the Board ceasing to hold office, other than persons in respect of whom an award under the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1963, may be made.

(2) A scheme under this Article shall not provide for the granting of a pension, gratuity or other allowance to a chairman of the Board in respect of a period during which he is a judge of the High Court.

(3) A scheme under this Article may provide that the termination of the appointment of the chairman or of an ordinary member of the Board during that person's term of office shall not preclude the award to him under the scheme of a pension, gratuity or other allowance.

(4) The Minister may, with the concurrence of the Minister for the Public Service, amend a scheme made by him under this Article.

(5) If any dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any pension, gratuity or allowance payable in pursuance of a scheme under this Article, such dispute shall be submitted to the Minister who shall refer it to the Minister for the Public Service, whose decision shall be final.

(6) A scheme made under this Article shall be carried out by the Board in accordance with its terms.

(7) Every scheme made by the Minister under this Article shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and if either House, within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling the scheme, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(8) Where an established civil servant is definitively transferred to the Board as a member thereof, the superannuation benefits to be granted to him shall, if the Minister for the Public Service in his discretion so directs, be calculated in accordance with the provisions of the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1963, as if, during the period of his service as a wholetime member of the Board subsequent to his transfer, he had been an established civil servant and had been paid during that period out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas within the meaning of section 17 of the Superannuation Act, 1859 .