Refugee Appeals Tribunal

1. The Tribunal shall consist of the following members—

(a) a chairperson, and

(b) such and such number of ordinary members as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, considers necessary for the expeditious dispatch of the business of the Tribunal,

each of whom shall have had not less than F73[5 years’] experience as a practising barrister or practising solicitor before his or her appointment.

F73[2. (a) The members of the Tribunal shall be appointed by the Minister.

F74[(b) A person shall not be appointed to be the chairperson unless the person has been duly selected following a competition under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 for the position.]]

3. The term of office of the chairperson shall be 5 years and a person may be reappointed to the office for a second or subsequent term.

4. Each ordinary member of the Tribunal shall be a part-time member and, subject to this Schedule, shall hold office for a term of 3 years on such terms and conditions as the Minister may, subject to the provisions of this Schedule, determine when appointing him or her.

F73[5. (a) The chairperson shall hold office under a contract of service in writing, containing such terms and conditions (including terms and conditions relating to remuneration, allowances and expenses and superannuation), as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may from time to time determine.

(b) Each ordinary member shall be paid such remuneration and allowances and expenses as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may from time to time determine.]

6. A member of the Tribunal may resign his or her membership by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect from the date of receipt of the letter by the Minister.

7. An ordinary member of the Tribunal may be removed from office by the Minister for stated reasons.

F75[8. (1) If a member of the Tribunal dies, resigns, becomes disqualified or is removed from office, the Minister may appoint another person to be a member of the Tribunal to fill the casual vacancy so occasioned and the person appointed shall be appointed in the same manner of the Tribunal member who occasioned the vacancy.

(2) Where the chairperson is for any reason temporarily unable to act as the chairperson, or the office of the chairperson is vacant, the Minister shall appoint a person to be the chairperson for the duration of the inability or until an appointment is made under paragraph 2, as appropriate, and the person so appointed may perform all the functions conferred on the chairperson by this Act.

(3) A person appointed under this paragraph shall hold office upon such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Minister after consultation with the Minister for Finance.]

9. The Minister may appoint such and so many persons to be members of the staff of the Tribunal as he or she considers necessary to assist the Tribunal in the performance of its functions and such members of the staff of the Tribunal shall receive such remuneration and be subject to such other terms and conditions of service as the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, determine.

10. Members of the staff of the Tribunal shall be civil servants within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956.

11. Whenever the Tribunal consists of more than one member, it shall be grouped into divisions each of which shall consist of one member.

12. The chairperson shall convene a meeting of the members of the Tribunal at least twice a year to review the work of the Tribunal and, where necessary, to make provision for training programmes for members of the Tribunal.

F75[13. The chairperson shall assign to each division the business to be transacted by it.]]

F76[14. The chairperson shall endeavour to ensure that the business of the Tribunal is managed efficiently and that the business assigned to each division is disposed of as expeditiously as may be consistent with fairness and natural justice.

15. The chairperson may, if he or she considers it appropriate to do so in the interest of the fair and efficient discharge of the business of the Tribunal, assign classes of business to each division having regard to the following matters:

(a) the grounds of the appeals set out in the notices of appeal,

(b) the country of origin of applicants,

(c) any family relationship between applicants,

(d) the ages of the applicants and, in particular, of persons under the age of 18 years in respect of whom applications are made,

(e) the provision of this Act pursuant to which the appeals are made.

16. The chairperson may delegate to a member of his or her staff his or her function of assigning to each division the business to be transacted by it.

17. The chairperson may from time to time issue guidelines or guidance notes generally on the practical application and operation of the provisions, or any particular provisions, of this Act and on developments in the law relating to refugees.

18. The chairperson may from time to time convene a meeting with a member or members of the Tribunal for the purpose of discussing matters relating to the discharge of the business of the Tribunal, including, in particular, such matters as the avoidance of undue divergences in the exercise by the members of their functions under section 16.

19. The chairperson shall, not later than 3 months after the end of each year, submit a report in writing to the Minister of his or her activities during that year and, not later than 1 month after such submission, the Minister shall cause a copy of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

20. The chairperson may, if he or she considers it appropriate to do so, make a report in writing to the Minister in relation to any function performed by him or her under this Act or any matter relating to the operation of this Act.]