Agriculture (An Chomhairle Oiliuna Talmhaiochta) Act, 1979

Amendment of Second Schedule to Agriculture Act, 1931.

26.—(1) The Second Schedule (which relates to the appointment and membership of committees of agriculture) to the Agriculture Act, 1931 , is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution for Rule 2 of the following Rule:

“2. (1) Every committee of agriculture shall be composed both of persons who are and persons who are not chosen by the council and the number of members of every such committee chosen by the council shall be, in case the committee consists of a number of members which is a multiple of five, three-fifths of that number, and in any other case, the number which is the next whole number above three-fifths of the number of members.

(2) Every person, other than a person chosen by the council, appointed to be a member of a committee of agriculture shall be appointed on the nomination of such voluntary rural organisations active in the county as the Minister may by order designate (either generally or in relation to each county or group of counties) and the number of members to be nominated by each such organisation shall, subject to the provisions of these Rules, be such as the Minister may by order determine.”;

(b) by the substitution for Rule 3 of the following Rule:

“3. The number of members of a committee of agriculture to be appointed in an election year at the annual meeting of the council held in that year shall be four times the number of county electoral areas in the county at the date of that annual meeting and the committee shall, notwithstanding any change in the number of electoral areas in the county in the meantime, consist of that number of members until the annual meeting of the council held in the next following election year.”;

(c) by the substitution for Rules 5 and 5A of the following Rule:

“5. Every person appointed to be a member of a committee of agriculture shall be chosen or nominatedfor appointment by reason of his attainment in the practice of farming, the development of agriculture, the promotion of agricultural or rural home advice or education or by reason of a practical, commercial or technical knowledge of agriculture or a special local knowledge of agricultural matters.”;

(d) by the substitution for Rule 6 of the following Rule:

“6. (1) The members of a committee of agriculture (other than a member appointed to fill a casual vacancy) shall be appointed in every election year at the annual meeting of the council held in that year and the appointment of such members shall be part of the first business to be transacted at every such annual meeting.

(2) A committee of agriculture shall be deemed not to be invalidly constituted by reason of—

(a) the failure of the voluntary rural organisations designated by the Minister under Rule 2 (2) to nominate the number of persons determined by the Minister under that Rule, or

(b) the failure of the council to appoint the number of members required under Rule 3,

and, in the event of either such failure, the Minister may, as the case may require, nominate for appointment as members or appoint to be members of the committee such person or persons as he may determine so that the number of members of the committee shall be the number required under Rule 3.”; and

(e) by the addition of the following paragraph to Rule 9:

“(3) The person appointed to fill a casual vacancy arising from the death, resignation or disqualification of a member nominated in accordance with Rule 2 (2) shall be appointed on the nomination of the same organisation or organisations which nominated the member occasioning the casual vacancy or on the nomination of such other organisation or organisations as the Minister may by order designate.”.

(2) This section shall have effect in relation to a committee of agriculture upon the commencement of the annual meeting of the council of the county by which the members of the committee are appointed held next after the first election of members of the council held after the commencement of this section.

Amendment of Agriculture (Amendment) Act, 1958