National Agricultural Advisory, Education and Research Authority Act, 1977

Composition of the Board.

26.—(1) The Board shall consist of a chairman and not more than twenty-three ordinary members.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), the members of the Board, including the chairman, shall be appointed by the Minister.

(3) (a) One member of the Board shall be appointed on the nomination of the Minister for Education, at least one member on the nomination of the Minister and at least one member on the nomination of the General Council referred to in section 43. The remaining members, who shall be representative of agricultural and rural organisations, the staff of the Authority, the Universities, institutions providing courses of study in agriculture mentioned in section 12 (1) (d) and such other agricultural interests as may be prescribed, shall be selected for nomination in accordance with the provisions of an order made for that purpose by the Minister and any such order shall indicate the procedure for filling casual vacancies in the membership of the Board.

(b) The Minister may, in the order referred to in paragraph (a), in relation to the Board to be established on the commencement of section 25, provide, as regards the member or members who are to be representative of the staff of the Authority, for the selection for nomination, on or before a specified date, of a representative or representatives of the said staff and, notwithstanding the fact that, in the period between the establishment of that Board and the date of the appointment to that Board of the said representative or representatives, there are not any members who are representative of the said staff, nothing done by or on behalf of the Board or the Authority shall be invalid solely by reason of that fact.

(c) For the purposes of paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule, any member appointed to the Board by virtue of paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be deemed to have been appointed on the date of the establishment of the Board.