148. (1) The Eighth Schedule to the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961 is amended—

(a) in paragraph 2, by substituting “The Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators” for “The Taxing-Masters’ Office”,

(b) in paragraph 3, by substituting “the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator and the Legal Costs Adjudicators appointed in accordance with the other provisions of this Schedule” for “Two Taxing-Masters”,

(c) by substituting the following for paragraph 8:

“8. The Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators shall be under the management of the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator, and there shall be transacted in that Office the business of the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator and the Legal Costs Adjudicators, other than such business as is required by law to be transacted by the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator in person.

8A. Each Legal Costs Adjudicator shall, in respect of the discharge of his or her functions and exercise of his or her powers, be subject to the general direction of the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator.

8B. The hours of attendance and sitting times for oral hearings of the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator and of each Legal Costs Adjudicator shall be regulated by the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator.”,

(d) by substituting the following for paragraph 18:

“18. (1) No person shall be appointed to be the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator, or a Legal Costs Adjudicator, unless —

(a) that person is included in a group of not more than 5 persons who have been selected by the Public Appointments Service, after a competition for that purpose under section 47 of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 has been held on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, in order to find persons who are suitable to be selected as the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator, as the case may be, and

(b) that person—

(i) has practised as a solicitor for a period of not less than 10 years,

(ii) has practised as a barrister for a period of not less than 10 years, or

(iii) has practised as a legal costs accountant, within the meaning of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, for a period of not less than 10 years.

(2) In computing the periods referred to in subparagraph (1)(b) —

(a) in the case of a solicitor, periods during which a person has practised as a barrister or a legal costs accountant may be aggregated with the person’s practice as a solicitor,

(b) in the case of a barrister, periods during which a person has practised as a solicitor or a legal costs accountant may be aggregated with the person’s practice as a barrister,

(c) in the case of a legal costs accountant, periods during which a person has practised as a solicitor or barrister may be aggregated with the person’s practice as a legal costs accountant.

(3) In applying subparagraph (2) no period of time may, as respects any person, be counted more than once.

(4) A person appointed to be the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or, as the case may be, a Legal Costs Adjudicator, shall be appointed by the Government on the nomination, from amongst a group of persons referred to in subparagraph (1), of the Minister.

(5) Notwithstanding any other enactment, the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator appointed pursuant to this paragraph—

(a) shall, subject to clauses (b) and (c), hold office for a period not exceeding 7 years,

(b) shall be required to retire on attaining the age of 70 years, and

(c) shall, on the expiry of the period referred to in clause (a), be taken to have been appointed under this paragraph as a Legal Costs Adjudicator for the period beginning on that expiry and ending on his or her attainment of the age of 70 years.

(6) Notwithstanding any other enactment, a Legal Costs Adjudicator appointed pursuant to this paragraph—

(a) shall, subject to clauses (b) and (c), hold office for a period not exceeding 5 years,

(b) shall be required to retire on attaining the age of 70 years, and

(c) shall, subject to clause (b), be eligible for re-appointment or to have the term of appointment extended, but shall not hold office for periods the aggregate of which exceeds 10 years.

(7) A person appointed pursuant to this paragraph may resign from office by notice in writing addressed to the Government and the resignation takes effect on the date the Government receives the notice or, if a date is specified in the notice and the Government agree to that date, on that date.

(8) A person appointed pursuant to this paragraph immediately ceases to be the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator, as the case may be, on—

(a) being nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann,

(b) being elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or of the European Parliament,

(c) being regarded, pursuant to Part XIII of the Second Schedule to the European Parliament Elections Act 1997, as having been elected to be a member of the European Parliament,

(d) becoming a member of a local authority,

(e) being appointed to be a judge, or

(f) being appointed Attorney General.

(9) A person shall be disqualified from being the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator during any period during which—

(a) he or she is entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit in that House,

(b) he or she is a member of the European Parliament, or

(c) he or she is entitled under the standing orders of a local authority to sit as a member of the local authority.

(10) A period during which a solicitor or barrister is the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator shall be reckonable as a period of professional practice for the purposes of an application for appointment as a judge.

(11) The Government may at any time remove the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator from office if—

(a) in the opinion of the Government, he or she has become incapable through ill-health of performing the functions of the office,

(b) he or she has committed stated misbehaviour,

(c) he or she has failed without reasonable cause, in the opinion of the Government, to perform the functions of the office for a continuous period of at least 3 months beginning not earlier than 6 months before the day of removal, or

(d) he or she has contravened to a material extent a provision of the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001 that, by virtue of a regulation under section 3 of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, applies to him or her.

(12) The Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator ceases to hold office if he or she—

(a) is convicted on indictment of an offence,

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

(c) has a declaration under section 819 of the Companies Act 2014 made against him or her or is deemed to be subject to such a declaration by virtue of Chapter 5 of Part 14 of that Act,

(d) is subject or is deemed to be subject to a disqualification order, within the meaning of Chapter 4 of Part 14 of the Companies Act 2014, whether by virtue of that Chapter or any other provisions of that Act,

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

(f) is removed by a competent authority for any reason (other than failure to pay a fee) from any register established for the purpose of registering members of a profession in the State or in another jurisdiction.

(13) The Government may appoint a person who would be eligible under this Part to be the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or, as the case may be, a Legal Costs Adjudicator, to temporarily fill a vacancy until an appointment is made under this paragraph, where the vacancy occurs because the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator—

(a) dies, resigns, becomes disqualified for or is removed from office, or

(b) is for any reason temporarily unable to continue to perform his or her functions as Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or, as the case may be, a Legal Costs Adjudicator.”,

and

(e) in paragraph 19, by substituting “The Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator and each of the Legal Costs Adjudicators” for “Each of the Taxing-Masters”.

(2) Subsection (1)(d) applies only as respects the appointment of the Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator or a Legal Costs Adjudicator made after the coming into operation of this section.