98. (1) A person who is a member of the staff of the Director shall be a member of the staff of the Mental Health Commission and the provisions of Part 3 of the Act of 2001 shall apply to such staff.

(2) The Director may delegate any of his or her functions to a specified member of the staff of the Mental Health Commission assigned for the time being to the Director (other than the power to delegate under this subsection and the functions specified in section 103), and, accordingly, references in this Act to the Director shall be construed, where appropriate having regard to any delegation made under this subsection, as including, as respects the matters so delegated, references to any person to whom such functions stand delegated.

(3) The Director may revoke a delegation made pursuant to subsection (2).

(4) The Mental Health Commission shall appoint such number of persons to be members of the staff of the Director as may be approved by the F141[Minister after consultation with the Minister for Health and] with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

(5) The numbers and grades of staff to be appointed under this section and the conditions (including those relating to remuneration and allowances) of their appointment shall be determined by the Mental Health Commission with the approval of the F141[Minister after consultation with the Minister for Health and] given with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

(6) The F141[Director] may, from time to time, engage such specialist advisers as F141[he or she] may consider necessary to assist him or her in the discharge of his or her functions under this Act.

(7) Any fees due to an adviser engaged under subsection (6) shall be subject to the prior agreement of the F141[Minister], given with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and shall form part of the expenses of the F141[Decision Support Service].