Comhairle Act, 2000

Membership of Board and term of office of members.

9.— (1) The Board shall consist of 20 members, who shall be appointed by the Minister and who shall, subject to the other provisions of this section, hold and vacate office as the Minister may determine.

(2) The Minister shall designate one member of the Board as chairperson.

(3) The Minister, when appointing a member of the Board, shall fix such member's period of membership which shall not exceed 3 years.

(4) The ordinary members of the Board shall include—

(a) one officer of the Minister,

(b) 5 members representative of people with disabilities, nominated by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to be members of the Board, and

(c) one member of the staff of the Board who shall be elected by secret ballot of the staff of the Board in such manner as the Board, with the agreement of the Minister, may determine.

(5) There may be paid to members of the Board, out of moneys at the disposal of the Board, such remuneration (if any) and allowances for expenses incurred by them as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may determine.

(6) A member of the Board may resign from the Board by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect on receipt of the letter by the Minister.

(7) A member of the Board may at any time be removed from membership of the Board by the Minister if, in the Minister's opinion, the member has become incapable through ill-health of performing his or her functions, or has committed stated misbehaviour, or his or her removal appears to the Minister to be necessary for the effective performance by the Board of its functions.

(8) A member of the Board shall cease to be and shall be disqualified from being a member of the Board where such member—

(a) is adjudicated bankrupt,

(b) makes a composition or arrangement with creditors,

(c) on conviction on indictment by a court of competent jurisdiction is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, or

(d) is disqualified or restricted from being a director of any company (within the meaning of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1999).

(9) If a member of the Board dies, resigns, becomes disqualified or is removed from office or for any other reason other than subsection (3) ceases to be a member of the Board, the Minister may appoint a person to be a member of the Board to fill the casual vacancy so occasioned and the person so appointed shall be appointed for the unexpired period of the term of membership of, and in the same manner as, the member of the Board who occasioned the casual vacancy.

(10) A member of the Board whose period of membership expires by the effluxion of time shall be eligible for re-appointment as a member of the Board.

(11) Subject to section 11 (3), the Board may act notwithstanding one or more vacancies in its membership.

(12) In making appointments to the Board the Minister shall have regard to the objective of there being not less than 8 members who are women and not less than 8 members who are men.

(13) In nominating persons to be members of the Board, pursuant to subsection (4)(b), the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform shall take account of the objective referred to in subsection (12).