1. (1) As soon as may be after its establishment the Council shall acquire and retain in its possession a seal.

(2) The seal of the Council shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairperson or a member of the Council authorised by the Council to act in that behalf and by the signature of an officer of the Council authorised to act in that behalf.

(3) Judicial notice shall be taken of the seal of the Council and every document purporting to be an instrument made by the Council and to be sealed with the seal (purporting to be authenticated in accordance with this Schedule) of the Council shall be received in evidence and shall be deemed to be such instrument without proof unless the contrary is shown.

2. (1) The Minister shall appoint the chairperson of the Council.

(2) The chairperson may, at any time, resign from office as chairperson by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect from the date on which the letter is received.

3. The term of office of a member (including the chairperson) shall not be greater than five years.

4. (1) If a member of the Council dies, resigns, becomes disqualified, is removed from office or for any other reason ceases to hold office, the Minister may appoint a person to be a member of the Council to fill the casual vacancy so occasioned and the person so appointed shall be appointed in the same manner as the member of the Council who occasioned the casual vacancy.

(2) A person appointed to be a member of the Council in accordance with this paragraph shall hold office for the remainder of the term of office of the member who occasioned the casual vacancy he or she is appointed to fill and shall be eligible for re-appointment as a member of the Council.

5. (1) The Minister may, at any time, remove a member of the Council from office if he or she has committed stated misbehaviour or if his or her removal appears necessary to the Minister for the effective performance by the Council of its functions.

(2) The Minister may, at any time, for reasons stated in writing to the members of the Council, remove all such members from office.

(3) A member may, at any time, resign from office as such member by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect from the date on which the letter is received.

(4) A member of the Council who is absent from all meetings of the Council for a period of six consecutive months, unless such absence was due to illness or was approved by the Council, shall be disqualified at the expiry of such period from continuing to be a member of the Council for the remainder of that person's term of office.

(5) A member (including the chairperson) whose term of office expires by effluxion of time shall be eligible for re-appointment.

6. (1) The Council shall, from time to time as occasion requires, appoint from amongst its members (other than the chairperson) two members to be deputy-chairpersons of the Council.

(2) A deputy-chairperson of the Council shall, unless that member sooner resigns, hold office until the expiration of that member's period of office as a member of the Council.

7. (1) Where a member of the Council (including the chairperson)—

(a) accepts nomination as a member of Seanad Éireann, or

(b) is elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or as a representative in the European Parliament, or

(c) is regarded pursuant to Part XIII of the Second Schedule to the European Parliament Elections Act, 1997, as having been elected to the European Parliament to fill a vacancy, or

(d) is adjudged bankrupt or makes, under the protection or procedure of a court, a composition or arrangement with creditors, or

(e) is sentenced to a term of imprisonment by a court of competent jurisdiction,

that member shall thereupon cease to be a member of the Council.

(2) A person shall not be eligible to be a member of the Council if that person—

(a) is for the time being entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein, or

(b) is for the time being a member of the European Parliament, or

(c) is an undischarged bankrupt, or

(d) within the immediately preceding three years has, under the protection or procedure of a court, made a composition or arrangement with creditors, or

(e) within the immediately preceding five years, has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment by a court of competent jurisdiction.

8. A member of the Council including the chairperson who has—

(a) any interest in any company or concern with which the Council proposes to make any contract, or

(b) any interest in any contract which the Council proposes to make,

shall disclose to the Council the fact of the interest and the nature thereof and shall take no part in any deliberation or decision of the Council relating to the contract, and the disclosure shall be recorded in the minutes of the Council.

9. The chairperson and members of the Council shall be paid, out of funds at the disposal of the Council, such allowances for expenses as the Minister, with the approval of the Minister for Finance, may decide.

10. (1) The Council shall hold such and so many meetings and at such time as the chairperson deems necessary.

(2) A chairperson shall convene a meeting of the Council whenever requested to do so by not less than six members.

(3) The quorum for a meeting of the Council shall be one third of the total number of members, rounded up to the next whole number, plus one.

11. At a meeting of the Council—

(a) the chairperson shall, if present, be the chairperson of the meeting,

(b) if and so long as the chairperson is not present or if the office of chairperson is vacant, the deputy-chairperson who is present or if both deputy-chairpersons are present the deputy-chairperson as chosen by the members of the Council who are present shall, be chairperson of the meeting,

(c) if and so long as the chairperson is not present or the office of chairperson is vacant, and a deputy-chairperson is not present or the offices of deputy-chairperson are vacant, the members of the Council who are present shall choose one of their number to be chairperson of the meeting.

12. Every question at a meeting of the Council shall be determined by a majority of the votes of members present and voting on the question and, in the case of an equal division of votes, the chairperson of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

13. Subject to paragraph 10 (3), the Council may act notwithstanding one or more than one vacancy among its members.

14. Subject to this Act, the Council shall regulate, by standing orders or otherwise, its procedure and business.