36. The Act of 2005 is amended by inserting the following Schedule after Schedule 6:

“SCHEDULE 6A

Section 56A

Irish National Accreditation Board

1. (1) The Accreditation Board shall consist of not more than 12 members, including the Manager of the Accreditation Board.

(2) The Authority shall, in so far as is practicable, endeavour to ensure that among the members of the Accreditation Board there is an equitable balance between men and women.

(3) The Accreditation Board may include persons who are not members of, or members of the staff of, the Authority.

(4) A chairperson of the Accreditation Board shall be appointed by the Authority from among the members of the Accreditation Board, other than the Manager of the Accreditation Board.

(5) A deputy chairperson of the Accreditation Board shall be appointed by the Authority from among the members of the Accreditation Board, other than the Manager of the Accreditation Board, to act as chairperson if the chairperson is not available or where the office of chairperson is vacant.

(6) At the end of each calendar year, the two longest serving members of the Accreditation Board, other than the Manager of the Accreditation Board, shall retire and where more than two members were appointed on the same date, the two members to retire shall be determined by lot.

(7) Subject to subparagraph (8), a member of the Accreditation Board whose term of office expires under subparagraph (6) is eligible for reappointment to that Board.

(8) A person who is reappointed to the Accreditation Board in accordance with subparagraph (7) shall not hold office for periods the aggregate of which exceeds 10 years.

(9) A period of time in office by a member of the Accreditation Board referred to in section 56A(11) (inserted by section 32 of the Industrial Development (Forfás Dissolution) Act 2014) prior to the coming into operation of that section shall be taken into account for the purposes of—

(a) subparagraph (6), and

(b) the 10 year period referred to in subparagraph (8).

2. A member of the Accreditation Board, other than the Manager of the Accreditation Board, shall be paid by the Authority such allowances for expenses incurred by the member as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may determine.

3. (1) A member of the Accreditation Board, other than the Manager of the Accreditation Board, may resign from office by giving notice in writing to the Authority of his or her resignation and the resignation shall take effect on the day on which the Authority receives the notice.

(2) The Authority may at any time remove from office a member of the Accreditation Board if, in the opinion of the Authority—

(a) the member has become incapable through ill-health of performing his or her functions,

(b) the member has committed stated misbehaviour, or

(c) the removal of the member appears to the Authority to be necessary for the effective performance by the Accreditation Board of its functions.

(3) A member of the Accreditation Board shall cease to be qualified for office and shall cease to hold office if he or she—

(a) is adjudicated bankrupt,

(b) makes a composition or arrangement with creditors,

(c) is convicted of an indictable offence,

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

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

(f) is disqualified or restricted from being a director of any company within the meaning of the Companies Acts, or

(g) is removed from office under subparagraph (2).

4. (1) If a member of the Accreditation Board, other than the Manager of the Accreditation Board, dies, resigns, ceases to be qualified for or ceases to hold office or is removed from office for any reason, the Authority may appoint a person to be a member of that Board to fill the casual vacancy so occasioned.

(2) A person appointed to be a member of the Accreditation Board under subparagraph (1) shall for the purposes of the period referred to in paragraph 1(8) be taken to have been appointed on the date of that person’s appointment to fill the casual vacancy concerned.

5. (1) The Accreditation Board shall hold as many meetings as may be necessary, as determined by the chairperson, for the due fulfilment of its functions.

(2) The chairperson shall convene a meeting of the Accreditation Board when requested to do so by not less than the number of members which constitute a quorum.

(3) The quorum for a meeting of the Accreditation Board shall, unless the Authority otherwise directs, be 5.

(4) At a meeting of the Accreditation Board—

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

(b) if and so long as the chairperson is not present or if the office of chairperson is vacant, the deputy chairperson of the Board shall be chairperson of the meeting, or

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

(5) Every question that is to be decided at a meeting of the Accreditation Board shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members of the Accreditation Board 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.

(6) Subject to subparagraph (3), the Accreditation Board may act notwithstanding one or more vacancies among its members.

(7) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Accreditation Board shall regulate its procedures (including procedures for electronic meetings).

(8) The Accreditation Board may hold or continue a meeting by the use of any means of communication by which all the members can hear and be heard at the same time (in this Schedule referred to as an ‘electronic meeting’).

(9) A member of the Accreditation Board who participates in an electronic meeting is taken for all purposes to have been present at the meeting.”.