79. Section 4 of the Act of 1969 is amended by—

(a) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1) —

“(1) (a) Subject to subsection (1A) (inserted by section 79(b) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015), the Minister shall appoint persons to be deputy chairmen from among persons in respect of whom recommendations for the purposes of this section have been made by the Public Appointments Service consequent upon the holding of a competition or competitions in accordance with the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004.

(b) A deputy chairman shall hold office subject to such terms and conditions as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform determines.”,

(b) the insertion of the following subsections:

“(1A) A person who immediately before the commencement of section 79 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 stood appointed as deputy chairman shall, from such commencement, continue to be deputy chairman for the unexpired period of the term of his appointment subject to the same terms and conditions as applied to his appointment immediately before such commencement.

(1B) The Minister may reappoint a person whose term of office as deputy chairman expires by the efflux of time to be a deputy chairman, and paragraph (a) of subsection (1) shall not apply in respect of the reappointment of such person.

(1C) Where a person—

(a) appointed under subsection (1) to be a deputy chairman,

(b) who continues to be a deputy chairman by virtue of subsection (1A), or

(c) reappointed in accordance with subsection (1B) to be a deputy chairman,

is, for whatever reason, unable to perform his functions as deputy chairman and the Minister is of the opinion that his inability to so perform his functions would unduly disrupt the performance by the Court or a division of the Court of its functions, a temporary vacancy among the deputy chairmen shall be deemed to exist and the Minister may, after consultation with the chairman, appoint a person to fill that temporary vacancy subject to such terms and conditions as the Minister shall determine.

(1D) If a deputy chairman dies, resigns, ceases to be qualified for office and ceases to hold office or is removed from office, or a deputy chairman’s term of office expires and he is not reappointed under subsection (1B), the Minister may appoint a person to be a deputy chairman to fill the vacancy so occasioned pending the appointment of a deputy chairman to fill that vacancy in accordance with subsection (1), and the person so appointed shall hold office subject to such terms and conditions as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, determines.”,

(c) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) (a) The Minister may designate a deputy chairman to perform the functions of the chairman in the absence of the chairman or where the office of chairman is vacant, and a deputy chairman so designated shall in such absence or upon such position becoming vacant perform those functions.

(b) References in any enactment shall, for the purposes of the performance of the functions of chairman by a deputy chairman designated under paragraph (a), include references to that deputy chairman.

(c) A person who, immediately before the commencement of section 79 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, stood appointed under subsection (1) shall be deemed to have been designated under paragraph (a).”,

(d) the deletion of subsections (3) and (4), and

(e) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (7):

“(7) The Civil Service Regulation Acts 1956 to 2005 shall not apply to the office of deputy chairman of the Court.”.