12. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the Judicial Council shall nominate 2 members of the Council to be members of the Commission.

(2) The 2 nominees shall comprise one male and one female nominee—

(a) one of whom shall be a judge of the Supreme Court, of the Court of Appeal or of the High Court and one of whom shall be a judge of the Circuit Court or the District Court, and

(b) one of whom shall be a judge who, at the time of his or her appointment as a judge, was qualified for such appointment by virtue of having been a practising solicitor and one of whom shall be a judge who, at the time of his or her appointment as a judge, was qualified for such appointment by virtue of having been a practising barrister.

(3) The Judicial Council shall not nominate the President of the High Court, the President of the Circuit Court or the President of the District Court to be a member of the Commission.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), a reference to having been qualified for such appointment by virtue of having been a practising solicitor or practising barrister shall, in relation to a judge who at the time of his or her appointment as a judge was qualified for such appointment by virtue of section 45A of the Act of 1961, be taken to be a reference to having been qualified for such appointment by virtue of having been, as part of that qualification, a practising barrister or practising solicitor, as the case may be, in accordance with that section.

(5) The Minister shall appoint each person nominated under subsection (1) to be a member of the Commission.

(6) Where a judge, appointed under this section, ceases to be a member of the Commission in accordance with section 18(4), the Judicial Council shall nominate a judge—

(a) of the same gender as the judge who ceases to be a member,

(b) of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal or the High Court if the judge who ceases to be a member was a judge of one of those courts, or of the Circuit Court or District Court if the judge who ceases to be a member was a judge of one of those courts, and

(c) who was qualified for appointment as a judge, as referred to in subsection (2)(b), on the same basis as the judge who is being replaced.

(7) The Minister shall appoint the person nominated under subsection (6) to be a member of the Commission and that person shall hold office for that period of the term of office of the member, who occasioned that vacancy, that remains unexpired at the date of such appointment.