17.— (1) The Minister may at any time remove a member of IFI from office if—

(a) in the Minister’s opinion, the member has become incapable through ill-health of performing the functions of the office,

(b) in the Minister’s opinion, the member has committed stated misbehaviour,

(c) the member’s removal from office appears to the Minister to be necessary for IFI to perform its functions in an effective manner,

(d) the member has contravened a provision (unauthorised disclosure) of this Act or an applicable provision of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, or

(e) in performing functions under this Act, the member has not been guided by a code of conduct that has been drawn up under section 10(3) of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 and that relates to the appointed member.

(2) A member of IFI shall cease to hold office and is disqualified from holding office if the member—

(a) is adjudicated bankrupt,

(b) makes a composition or arrangement with creditors,

(c) is convicted on indictment by a court of competent jurisdiction and sentenced to a term of imprisonment,

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

(e) is disqualified or restricted from being a director of any company,

(f) does not pay any fishery rate payable by him, or

(g) is convicted of an offence under the Inland Fisheries Acts or under any instrument made under those Acts.

(3) A member who does not, for a consecutive period of 6 months, attend a meeting of IFI ceases at the end of that period to hold office unless the member demonstrates to the Minister’s satisfaction that the failure to attend was due to illness.

(4) In this section “applicable provision of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995”, in relation to an appointed member, means a provision of that Act that by virtue of a regulation under section 3 of that Act applies to that member.