22.— (1) The Minister shall, as soon as he or she considers it appropriate in the circumstances, appoint a person (referred to in this Act as the “Assessor”) to determine, in accordance with this Act, the fair and reasonable aggregate value of the transferred shares and the extinguished rights and the consequent amount of compensation, if any, payable to persons in respect of those shares and those rights.

(2) In deciding whether it is an appropriate time to appoint the Assessor, the Minister shall have regard to the public interest.

(3) In appointing a person as the Assessor, the Minister shall ensure that the person has, in the Minister’s opinion, significant knowledge or experience of the financial services sector.

(4) The Minister may not appoint a person as the Assessor unless the Minister is satisfied that the person would, if appointed, have no conflict of a material nature between any personal or business interests and the performance of the Assessor’s functions.

(5) A person is not eligible to be appointed as the Assessor if the person—

(a) is a member of either House of the Oireachtas or is, with the person’s consent, nominated as a candidate for election as such a member,

(b) is a member of the European Parliament or is, with the person’s consent, nominated as a candidate for election as such a member or to fill a vacancy in the membership of that Parliament, or

(c) is a member of a local authority (within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2001) or is, with the person’s consent, nominated as a candidate for election as such a member.

(6) For the purpose of facilitating the performance of his or her functions under this Act, the Assessor has the powers set out in the Schedule and may exercise, for any particular purpose, such of those powers as he or she, in his or her sole discretion, determines are appropriate for that purpose.

(7) In the performance of his or her functions under this Act, the Assessor—

(a) is independent,

(b) shall act as an expert only, and

(c) shall act as expeditiously as possible consistent with fairness.

(8) The Assessor shall complete the performance of his or her functions within such period as the Minister specifies from time to time.