18. (1) The Office shall have an advisory board (in this Act referred to as the “Board”), which shall consist of the following members:

(a) a chairperson;

(b) the chief executive; and

(c) 7 ordinary members, including—

(i) an officer of the Minister, and

(ii) 4 officers of a Minister of the Government (other than the Minister).

(2) The chairperson and the ordinary members of the Board shall be appointed by the Minister, having consulted with the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Social Protection, the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, from among persons who, in the Minister’s opinion, have expertise in—

(a) matters connected to the functions of the Office, or

(b) matters connected to organisational governance, management or public administration.

(3) The chairperson of the Board shall hold office for a term of 3 years.

(4) Subject to subsection (6), the Minister, when appointing a member of the Board, shall fix such member’s term of office, which shall not exceed 4 years.

(5) When appointing members of the Board, the Minister shall have regard to the objective that at least 40 per cent of members of the Board shall be women and at least 40 per cent shall be men.

(6) (a) Of the persons who are first appointed to be ordinary members of the Board, 4 members, who shall be selected by the drawing of lots by the chairperson at a meeting of the Board to be held for that purpose as soon as may be after the establishment day, shall hold office for a term of 3 years from the date of their appointment.

(b) A member of the Board may be selected as one of the 4 members of the Board referred to in paragraph (a) notwithstanding the fact that he or she is not present at the meeting of the Board referred to in paragraph (a).

(c) The quorum for the meeting of the Board referred to in paragraph (a) shall be 6.

(7) A member of the Board, appointed under subsection (2), whose term of office expires or is due to expire by the effluxion of time, is eligible for reappointment to the Board but may not serve on the Board for more than 2 consecutive terms.

(8) For the purposes of this Act only, members of the Board are not employees under section 8 and section 9 of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003.