12. (1) The Commission shall consist of not more than 15 and not less than 12 members, one of whom shall be the Chief Commissioner of the Commission.

(2) Of the members of the Commission, not less than 6 of them shall be men and not less than 6 of them shall be women, and in a case where there are 14 or more members, not less than 7 of them shall be men and not less than 7 of them shall be women.

(3) Each member of the Commission shall be appointed by the President, in accordance with section 13 , and shall hold office for such period not exceeding 5 years as the President, on the advice of the Government, may determine when appointing him or her.

(4) Each member of the Commission shall hold his or her office on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Government at the time of his or her appointment and shall, subject to subsection (9), be eligible for re-appointment for a further term not exceeding 5 years.

(5) The Commission may act notwithstanding any vacancy among its members (including one or more vacancies that result in subsection (1) or (2) not being complied with).

(6) Of the persons who on establishment day are to comprise the members of the Commission—

(a) 7 such members shall be appointed for a term of 3 years, and

(b) 8 such members, including the Chief Commissioner, shall be appointed for a term of 5 years.

(7) A person who was appointed by the Government on 16 April 2013 to the Human Rights Commission may, on the establishment day, be appointed to be a member of the Commission.

(8) Subject to subsection (9), a member of the Commission whose term of office expires with the passage of time shall be eligible for re-appointment to the Commission.

(9) A member of the Commission who has served 2 terms of office shall not be eligible for re-appointment to the Commission, and a period during which a person serves as a member of the Commission pursuant to an appointment under section 15 shall be deemed for the purposes of this subsection to be a term of office.

(10) For the purposes of subsection (9), one or more terms of office as a member of—

(a) the Human Rights Commission, or

(b) the Equality Authority, shall be deemed to be a term of office and shall be reckoned as one term of office only, however, where the term of office ends on or immediately before the establishment day, such term shall not be deemed to be a term of office and, accordingly shall not be reckoned for the purposes of the subsection.

(11) Notwithstanding the generality of subsection (9), a person who has served 2 terms of office shall be eligible for re-appointment to the Commission after a period of 5 years has elapsed immediately following the expiry of the most recent term of office of the person as a member of the Commission.