9.—(1) The members of the Agency shall constitute its Board.

(2) The Board shall consist of 12 members.

(3) The Board shall include the chief executive officer.

(4) The members of the Board (other than the chief executive officer) shall, as soon as may be after the establishment day, be appointed by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

(5) The Minister shall designate one member of the Board as chairperson.

(6) 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.

(7) 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.

(8) On the anniversary of the establishment day and thereafter on each anniversary of the establishment day, two of the members of the Board (other than the chairperson and the chief executive officer) shall retire from office.

(9) The members to retire under subsection (8) 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 (8), the members to retire shall, unless such members otherwise agree, be determined by lot.

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

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

(a) is adjudged 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 1990).

(12) 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 therein or upon receipt of the letter by the Minister, whichever is the later.

(13) 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 Minister's opinion, 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 Agency of the functions of the Agency.

(14) 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.

(15) A member of the Board whose period of membership expires by the effluxion of time shall be eligible for re-appointment as a member of the Board.

(16) 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.