Gaeltacht Act 2012

Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act.

16.— Section 6 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following for subsections (2) and (2A) (as amended by section 3 of the Údarás na Gaeltachta (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1999 )—

“(2) (a) An tÚdarás shall consist of the following members:

(i) a chairperson, who shall be appointed by the Minister;

(ii) one ordinary member, who shall be appointed by the Minister, on the nomination of the county council of County Donegal from amongst its members, or if no member of that county council is available or considered suitable for appointment by that county council, from amongst persons whom the county council considers to be representative of one or more than one of the Gaeltacht areas or Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas in that county;

(iii) one ordinary member, who shall be appointed by the Minister, on the nomination of the county council of County Mayo from amongst its members, or if no member of that county council is available or considered suitable for appointment by that county council, from amongst persons whom the county council considers to be representative of one or more than one of the Gaeltacht areas or Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas in that county;

(iv) one ordinary member, who shall be appointed by the Minister, on the nomination of the county council of County Galway from amongst its members, or if no member of that county council is available or considered suitable for appointment by that county council, from amongst persons whom the county council considers to be representative of one or more than one of the Gaeltacht areas or Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas in that county;

(v) one ordinary member, who shall be appointed by the Minister, on the nomination of the county council of County Kerry from amongst its members, or if no member of that county council is available or considered suitable for appointment by that county council, from amongst persons whom the county council considers to be representative of one or more than one of the Gaeltacht areas or Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas in that county;

(vi) one ordinary member, who shall be appointed by the Minister for a period of 2 years on the nomination of each of the county councils of the counties of Cork, Meath and Waterford in accordance with paragraph (b);

(vii) 6 ordinary members, who shall be appointed by the Minister.

(b) (i) Each of the county councils referred to in paragraph (a)(vi) shall nominate the ordinary member referred to in that paragraph from amongst the members of the county council concerned or, if no member of one of the county councils concerned is available or considered suitable for appointment by the county council concerned, it shall nominate that ordinary member from amongst persons whom the county council concerned considers to be representative of one or more than one of the Gaeltacht areas or Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas in the county concerned.

(ii) The order in which persons nominated under paragraph (b)(i) shall be appointed to an tÚdarás shall be determined by the Minister by lot.

(2A) The Minister shall not appoint a person to an tÚdarás unless the Minister is satisfied that the person has experience of, or shown capacity in, matters relevant to the functions of an tÚdarás, including the capacity to discharge functions in relation to an tÚdarás in the Irish language.”.