Industrial Development (Science Foundation Ireland) Act 2003

Membership of Board.

9

9. —(1) There shall be paid to the members of the Board such remuneration (if any) and such allowances for expenses incurred by them as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may from time to time determine.

(2) Each member of the Board shall hold office on such terms (other than the payment of remuneration and allowances for expenses) as the Minister determines at the time of his or her appointment.

(3) On the first anniversary of the establishment day and thereafter on each anniversary of the establishment day 2 of the members of the Board (other than the chairperson and the Director General) shall retire from office.

(4) The members who are required under subsection (3) to retire in any year shall be those who have been longest in office since their last appointment, and where there are members whose appointment was made on the same day and who are obliged to retire under subsection (3), the members to retire shall, unless such members otherwise agree, be determined by lot.

(5) A member of the Board (other than the Director General) shall not serve for more than 10 consecutive years.

(6) A member of the Board shall be disqualified from being such a member where he or she—

(a) is adjudicated bankrupt,

(b) makes a composition or arrangement with creditors,

(c) is convicted of an indictable offence in relation to a company,

(d) is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty, or

(e) is disqualified or restricted from being a director of any company (within the meaning of the Companies Acts 1963 to 2001).

(7) A member of the Board may, at any time, resign his or her membership by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect from the date specified in that letter or on receipt of that letter by the Minister, whichever is the later.

(8) A member of the Board may at any time for stated reasons be removed from membership of the Board by the Minister if, in the opinion of the Minister, the member has become incapable through ill-health of performing his or her functions, or has committed stated misbehaviour, or his or her removal appears to the Minister to be necessary for the effective performance by the Foundation of its functions.

(9) If a member of the Board dies, resigns, retires, becomes disqualified or is removed from office, the Minister may appoint a person to be a member of the Board to fill the casual vacancy so occasioned and the person so appointed shall be appointed in the same manner as the member of the Board who occasioned the casual vacancy.

(10) A member of the Board whose period of membership expires by the effluxion of time may, subject to subsection (5), be eligible for re-appointment as a member of the Board.

(11) The Minister shall, in so far as is practicable and having regard to relevant experience, ensure an equitable balance between men and women in the composition of the Board.