Regulation of Providers of Building Works and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022
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SCHEDULE 2 Miscellaneous matters concerning Board and Appeals Committee | ||
1. Term of office | ||
(1) Subject to this Act, a member of the Board or appeals committee shall hold office for a period of up to 4 years, as the Minister considers appropriate from the date of his or her appointment. | ||
(2) A person may not be appointed to be a member of the Board or appeals committee for more than 2 terms whether consecutive or otherwise. | ||
(3) A member of the Board or appeals committee may at any time resign from office by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect on the date of the next meeting of the Board or appeals committee. | ||
(4) A member of the Board or appeals committee shall, unless he or she sooner dies, becomes disqualified from holding office, resigns, is removed from office or otherwise ceases to be a member, hold office as such member until the expiration of his or her term of office. | ||
(5) The chairperson of the Board or appeals committee shall hold office as chairperson until his or her term of office as a member of the Board or appeals committee expires, unless that person sooner dies, becomes disqualified from holding office, resigns, is removed from office or otherwise ceases to be a member, but, if reappointed as a member, shall be eligible to be designated as the chairperson. | ||
2. Removal from office | ||
(1) The Minister may remove a member of the Board or appeals committee from office— | ||
(a) if he or she is satisfied that one or more of the grounds specified in subparagraph (2) apply to the member concerned, or | ||
(b) if he or she, having considered a recommendation of the registration body under subparagraph (3), is satisfied that the member should be removed. | ||
(2) The grounds referred to in subparagraph (1) are as follows, namely that the member of the Board or appeals committee concerned: | ||
(a) has become incapable through ill health of effectively performing his or her functions; | ||
(b) has engaged in serious misconduct; | ||
(c) has failed without reasonable cause to perform his or her functions for a continuous period of at least 3 months during the 6 months immediately preceding and ending on the date of the giving of the notice under subparagraph (4); | ||
(d) has contravened to a material extent a provision of the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001. | ||
(3) The registration body may, for the purposes of subparagraph (1), recommend to the Minister the removal from office of a member of the Board or the appeals committee if the member has provided works in contravention of this Act, the Act of 1981, the Act of 1990, the Act of 2005 or the relevant environmental legislation, and the Minister shall consider any such recommendation. | ||
(4) Where the Minister proposes to remove a member of the Board or appeals committee from office under subparagraph (1), he or she shall give notice in writing to the member concerned of the proposal. | ||
(5) A notice under subparagraph (4) shall include a statement— | ||
(a) of the reasons for the proposed removal from office, | ||
(b) that the member concerned may, within a period of 30 working days beginning on the date of the notice or such longer period as the Minister may, having regard to the requirements of natural justice, make representations to the Minister in such form and manner as may be specified by the Minister, as to why the member should not be removed from office, and | ||
(c) that where no representations are received within the period referred to in clause (b) or the period specified in the notice, as the case may be, the Minister shall, without further notice to the member concerned, proceed with the removal of the member from office in accordance with this paragraph. | ||
(6) In considering whether to remove a member from office, the Minister shall take into account— | ||
(a) any representations made pursuant to clause (b) of subparagraph (5), within the period referred to in that clause or the period specified in the notice, as the case may be, and | ||
(b) any other matter the Minister considers relevant for the purpose of his or her decision. | ||
(7) The Minister may, if he or she considers it necessary or appropriate to do so, appoint an independent person to— | ||
(a) hold an inquiry into any matter giving rise to a notification under subparagraph (4), and | ||
(b) report to the Minister on the findings of the inquiry. | ||
(8) An independent person appointed under subparagraph (7) to hold an inquiry may do one or more of the following: | ||
(a) direct a person, by notice delivered to him or her, to provide any information that is specified in the notice and is required for the purposes of the inquiry; | ||
(b) direct any person, by notice delivered to him or her, to produce at the time and place specified in the notice a document specified in the notice that is relevant to the inquiry and is in the person’s power or control; | ||
(c) summon witnesses to attend the inquiry; | ||
(d) direct a witness to answer a question put to him or her at the inquiry; | ||
(e) give any other direction that appears to the person appointed under this section to be necessary, just and reasonable for the purposes of the inquiry; | ||
(f) administer oaths and affirmations to witnesses and examine witnesses attending the inquiry. | ||
(9) If a person fails or refuses to comply with or disobeys a direction or summons under subparagraph (8), the High Court may, on application by the independent person appointed under subparagraph (7) — | ||
(a) order the person in relation to whom the application was made to comply with the direction or, in the case of a summons, to attend the inquiry, and | ||
(b) make such other (if any) order as it considers necessary and just to enable the direction to have full effect or, in the case of a summons, to ensure the attendance at the inquiry. | ||
(10) A person who— | ||
(a) is given a direction under subparagraph (8) and who, without lawful excuse, refuses or fails to comply with a direction under clause (a) or (b) of subparagraph (8), | ||
(b) fails, without lawful excuse, to attend an inquiry in response to a summons under subparagraph (8)(c), | ||
(c) refuses to answer a question that the independent person conducting the inquiry may legally direct him or her to answer, or | ||
(d) does or omits to do in relation to the inquiry any other thing the doing or omission of which would, if the inquiry had been a proceeding in the High Court, have been contempt of that Court, | ||
shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(11) A statement or admission made by a person pursuant to a direction under subparagraph (8) shall not be admissible as evidence in proceedings brought against that person for an offence (other than an offence under subparagraph (10)). | ||
(12) If an inquiry is held, the Minister shall— | ||
(a) consider the report on the findings of the inquiry, | ||
(b) in a case where the reasons for the proposed removal from office of the member of the Board or appeals committee concerned relate either solely or partially to a matter referred to in subparagraph (1)(b), inform the registration body of the findings of the inquiry in so far as they relate to those matters, | ||
(c) make a copy of the report available to the member of the Board or appeals committee whose removal from office is the subject of the report, and | ||
(d) give that member of the Board or appeals committee an opportunity to make representations relating to the report. | ||
(13) Where, having taken into account the matters referred to in subparagraph (6), or, as the case may be, subparagraph (12), the Minister decides to remove the member of the Board or appeals committee from office, he or she shall give notice to the member of the decision and of the reasons for that decision. | ||
(14) The member of the Board or appeals committee may, within 30 working days beginning on the date of the notice under subparagraph (13), appeal to the High Court against the decision of the Minister. | ||
(15) On hearing an appeal under subparagraph (14), the High Court may, as it thinks proper, either affirm or overturn the decision concerned. | ||
3. Casual vacancies | ||
(1) Where a member of the Board or appeals committee dies, becomes disqualified from holding office, resigns, is removed from office or otherwise ceases to be a member, the Minister may appoint a person to be a member of the Board or appeals committee to fill the resultant casual vacancy. | ||
(2) (a) Any requirement (whether as to consultation, obtaining of another’s approval or otherwise) that applies with respect to the nomination of a person for appointment to the Board or the appeals committee shall apply to the nomination of a person for appointment to fill a casual vacancy amongst the membership of the Board or appeals committee. | ||
(b) Where the term of office of a member of the Board or appeals committee terminates otherwise than by reason of the passage of time, the period of office of the person appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by that other’s ceasing to hold office shall be specified to be the unexpired period of that other’s term of office. | ||
(3) Where the Government makes an order under section 8 (2) pursuant to a request of the Minister under section 9 (2), the Board and appeals committee shall be dissolved and a new Board and appeals committee shall be appointed. | ||
4. Meetings | ||
(1) The Board or appeals committee shall hold such meetings as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions. | ||
(2) At a meeting of the Board or appeals committee, the chairperson or, in the chairperson’s absence a member chosen by those present, shall chair the meeting. | ||
(3) The chairperson and each other member of the Board or appeals committee shall have a vote. | ||
(4) Every question at a meeting of the Board or appeals committee shall be determined by a majority of votes of members present and the chairperson shall have a casting vote in the event of an equal division. | ||
(5) The quorum for such a meeting shall be 6 members in the case of the Board and 3 members in the case of the appeals committee, of which, subject to subparagraph (6), the majority shall be members who were nominated for appointment as members of the Board or appeals committee, as the case may be, by the Minister. | ||
(6) There may be reckoned for the purposes of that majority the chairperson of the Board or appeals committee, as the case may be, if he or she is present at the meeting. | ||
(7) The Board or appeals committee may perform its functions whether or not there is a vacancy in its membership and none of its proceedings are invalidated by any defect in the appointment of a member to it. | ||
(8) In relation to the appeals committee, this paragraph shall operate subject to section 24 . | ||
(9) The Registrar and an employee of the registration body may attend a meeting of the Board but shall not be reckoned for the purposes of a quorum. | ||
5. Ceasing to be qualified | ||
(1) A member of the Board or appeals committee shall cease to be qualified for office and shall cease to hold office if he or she— | ||
(a) is adjudicated bankrupt, | ||
(b) makes a composition or arrangement with creditors, | ||
(c) is sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction to a term of imprisonment, | ||
(d) is convicted of any indictable offence in relation to a company or any other body corporate, | ||
(e) is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty, | ||
(f) has a declaration under section 819 of the Act of 2014 made against him or her or is deemed to be subject to such a declaration by virtue of Chapter 5 of Part 14 of that Act, or | ||
(g) is subject or is deemed to be subject to a disqualification order, within the meaning of Chapter 4 of Part 14 of the Act of 2014, whether by virtue of that Chapter or any other provision of that Act. | ||
(2) Where a member of the Board or appeals committee is— | ||
(a) nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann, | ||
(b) elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or to be a representative in the European Parliament, or | ||
(c) regarded pursuant to Part XIII of the Second Schedule to the European Parliament Elections Act 1997 as having been elected to that Parliament, | ||
he or she shall thereupon cease to be a member of the Board or appeals committee. | ||
(3) A person who is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit in that House or who is a representative in the European Parliament shall be disqualified, while he or she is so entitled or is such a representative, from being a member of the Board or appeals committee. | ||
6. Interest in matter before meeting of Board | ||
(1) Subparagraph (2) applies where at a meeting of the Board any of the following matters arise, namely— | ||
(a) an arrangement to which the Board is a party, | ||
(b) an arrangement to which the Board proposes to become a party, | ||
(c) a contract or other agreement with the Board, or | ||
(d) a proposed contract or other agreement with the Board. | ||
(2) Any member of the Board present at the meeting referred to in subparagraph (1) who has a pecuniary interest or other beneficial interest in, or material to, the matter concerned shall— | ||
(a) disclose to the Board at the meeting the fact of that interest and its nature, | ||
(b) not influence (or seek to influence) a decision to be made in relation to the matter, | ||
(c) absent himself or herself from the meeting or that part of the meeting during which the matter is being discussed, | ||
(d) take no part in any deliberation of the governing body relating to the matter, and | ||
(e) not vote on a decision relating to the matter. | ||
(3) Where an interest is disclosed pursuant to subparagraph (2), the disclosure shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting concerned and, for so long as the matter to which the disclosure relates is being dealt with by the meeting, the member of the Board by whom the disclosure is made shall not be counted in the quorum for the meeting. | ||
(4) Where at a meeting of the Board a question arises as to whether or not a course of conduct, if pursued by a member of the Board would constitute a failure by him or her to comply with the requirements of subparagraph (2), the question may, subject to subparagraph (5), be determined by the chairperson of the meeting, whose decision shall be final, and where the question is so determined, particulars of the determination shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. | ||
(5) Where, at a meeting of the Board, the chairperson of the meeting is the member in respect of whom a question to which subparagraph (4) applies falls to be determined, the other members of the Board attending the meeting shall choose one of their number to be chairperson of the meeting for the purpose of determining the question concerned. | ||
7. Confidential information | ||
(1) A person shall not, unless he or she is authorised by the Board, disclose confidential information obtained by him or her while performing functions as— | ||
(a) a member of or an adviser or consultant to the Board or a member of the staff of such an adviser or consultant, or | ||
(b) a member of a committee of the Board established under section 23 . | ||
(2) A person who contravenes subparagraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(3) Nothing in subparagraph (1) shall prevent the disclosure of information— | ||
(a) in a report made to the Board or appeals committee, | ||
(b) by or on behalf of the Board to the Minister, | ||
(c) by a member of the Board to the Minister, or | ||
(d) by a person in the circumstances referred to in section 35 (2) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 . | ||
(4) In subparagraph (1) “confidential information” includes— | ||
(a) information that is expressed by the registration body to be confidential either as regards particular information or as regards information of a particular class or description, and | ||
(b) proposals of a commercial nature or tenders submitted to the registration body by contractors, consultants or any other person. | ||
8. Application of paragraph 6 and 7 to committees of Board | ||
Paragraphs 6 and 7 shall apply to a member of a committee of the Board established under section 23 where the member is not also a member of the Board and for the purposes of that application— | ||
(a) a reference to a member of the Board shall be construed as reference to a member of the committee, and | ||
(b) a reference to the Board shall be construed as reference to the committee. | ||
9. Regulation of procedure and rules | ||
(1) Subject to this Act, the Board shall regulate, by standing orders or otherwise, which may be made, amended or revoked as it sees fit, for the conduct of its procedure and business. | ||
(2) Standing orders made by the Board under subparagraph (1) shall be published on a website maintained by or on behalf of the Board. |