10. (1) Subject to this section, the Board shall consist of such and so many members, including the chairperson, not being fewer than 12 or more than 15 in number, as the Minister may consider appropriate.

(2) The members of the Board shall be appointed by the Minister.

(3) Of the persons appointed to be members of the Board—

(a) one shall be—

(i) a judge, or a retired judge, of the Circuit Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court,

(ii) a practising barrister or practising solicitor of not less than 10 years’ standing, or

(iii) a legal academic of not less than 10 years’ standing who has been employed as such for a continuous period of not less than 2 years immediately before such appointment,

nominated for appointment by the Chief Justice,

(b) one shall be a practising barrister of not less than 5 years’ standing nominated for appointment by the General Council of the Bar of Ireland,

(c) one shall be a practising solicitor of not less than 5 years’ standing nominated for appointment by the Law Society of Ireland,

(d) two shall be psychiatrists nominated for appointment by the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland,

(e) two shall be psychologists nominated for appointment by the Psychological Society of Ireland,

(f) one shall be a member of staff of the Irish Prison Service nominated by the Director General of the Irish Prison Service,

(g) one shall be a serving member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of superintendent nominated by the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána,

(h) one shall be a member of staff of the Probation Service nominated by the Director of the Probation Service,

(i) one shall be a representative of a non-governmental organisation that specialises in advocating for the rights of persons serving terms of imprisonment in prisons or the amelioration of conditions in prisons, and

(j) the remaining member or members shall be such other person or persons as, in the opinion of the Minister, has or have sufficient experience and expertise relating to matters connected with the functions of the Board to enable him, her or them to make a substantial contribution to the effective performance of those functions.

(4) The person appointed as a member of the Board pursuant to the nomination of the Chief Justice under subsection (3)(a) shall act as chairperson of the Board.

(5) In appointing a person to be a member of the Board, the Minister shall satisfy himself or herself that the person has—

(a) a knowledge and understanding of the criminal justice system, and

(b) the ability to make a reasonable and balanced assessment of—

(i) the risk a person serving a sentence of imprisonment might present to the safety and security of members of the public if released on parole,

(ii) the extent to which such a person has been rehabilitated and would, if released on parole, be capable of reintegrating into society, and

(iii) whether it is appropriate in all the circumstances that such a person be released on parole.

(6) In nominating persons for appointment under this section, a nominating person or body referred to in subsection (3), other than the Chief Justice—

(a) shall—

(i) subject to subparagraph (ii), nominate a primary nominee of one sex and a substitute nominee of the other sex, and

(ii) in the case of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland or the Psychological Society of Ireland, where the two members of the Board to be nominated by the body under subsection (3)(d) or (e), as the case may be, are nominated at the same time, nominate one man and one woman,

and

(b) shall satisfy itself that its nominees meet the criteria specified in subsection (5).

(7) In appointing members of the Board, the Minister shall—

(a) have regard to the objective of there being no fewer than 6 members who are women and no fewer than 6 members who are men, and

(b) appoint a substitute nominee referred to in subsection (6)(a) rather than a primary nominee of the nominating body concerned, but only where necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(8) In this section—

“Director of the Probation Service” means the person appointed by the Minister to the post of Director of the Probation Service;

“legal academic” means a permanent member of the academic staff of an educational establishment who—

(a) teaches one or more subjects in the field of law, or

(b) carries out, or supervises the carrying out of, research in one or more such subjects, whether or not in conjunction with the carrying on by him or her of administrative duties relevant to that teaching, research or supervision;

“educational establishment” means—

(a) a university to which the Universities Act 1997 applies,

(b) the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, or

(c) the Law Society of Ireland,

and in computing, for the purposes of this section, any period that a person must have served as a legal academic, successive employment of the person by 2 or more of any of the foregoing educational establishments shall suffice.