Gas Act, 1976

FIRST SCHEDULE

IRISH GAS BOARD

Section 7 .

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 or rights over land.

2. The Board shall consist of a chairman and such number of other members, not being more than six, as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance may determine.

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

4. (1) The Minister shall, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, from time to time as occasion requires appoint a member of the Board to be chairman thereof.

(2) The chairman of the Board shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns the office of chairman or ceases to be chairman under paragraph (4) of this Article, hold office until the expiration of his period of office as a member of the Board.

(3) The chairman of the Board may at any time resign his office as chairman by letter sent to the Minister, and the resignation shall, unless it is previously withdrawn in writing, take effect at the commencement of the meeting of the Board held next after the Board has been informed by the Minister of the resignation.

(4) Where the chairman of the Board ceases during his term of office as chairman to be a member of the Board, he shall also then cease to be chairman of the Board.

5. Each member of the Board shall be appointed by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister when making the appointment shall fix such member's term of office which shall not exceed five years and, subject to the foregoing and to Articles 7 and 9 (2) 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.

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

7. The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, remove from office any 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.

8. A member of the Board may resign his office as such 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.

9. (1) Where a member of the Board is nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann or for election to either House of the Oireachtas he shall, upon accepting nomination as a member of Seanad Éireann or upon nomination for such election, as the case may be, cease to be a member of the Board.

(2) Where a member of the Board—

(a) is adjudged bankrupt or makes a composition or arrangement with his creditors, or

(b) ceases to be ordinarily resident in the State, or

(c) is sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction to a term of imprisonment,

he shall thereupon cease to be such a member.

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

11. Where a casual vacancy occurs among the members of the Board, the Minister shall take such steps as are necessary to fill the vacancy as soon as possible.

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

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

14. At a meeting of the Board the chairman of the Board shall, if present, be chairman of the meeting, but if the chairman of the Board is not present at a meeting or if the office of such chairman is vacant, then the members of the Board present at the meeting shall choose one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.

15. The quorum for a meeting of the Board shall be three or such other number (being not less than three) as may be determined from time to time by the Board.

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

17. 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.

18. Subject to Article 15 of this Schedule, the Board may act notwithstanding a vacancy among its members.

19. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board shall regulate its procedure and business.

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

21. The Board may perform any of its functions through or by any of its officers or servants or any other person duly appointed by the Board in that behalf, but nothing in this Article shall be construed as enabling any person to execute on behalf of the Board any document under seal.

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

23. 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, and by the signature of an officer of the Board authorised by the Board to act in that behalf.

24. 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 23 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.

25. (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 other members of the Board, being members whose duties as such are wholetime, 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 may provide that the termination of the appointment of the chairman or of a 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.

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

(4) 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.

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

(6) 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.

(7) 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 .