James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 44:

In page 16, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following:

“Amendment of section 30 of Act of 2020

32.The Act of 2020 is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 30:

“30.(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the rules (howsoever described) of the body, the validity of a meeting of the members of an unincorporated body, or of a vote taken, decision made or other act done by such members at a meeting, shall not be affected by virtue only of the fact that the meeting concerned was held in accordance with subsection (2) and not held in person.

(2) A meeting referred to in subsection (1) is held in accordance with this subsection where the members participating in the meeting are not all in the one place, but each member is able, directly or by means of electronic communications technology, to speak to, and to be heard by,each of the other members.

(3) In this section, ‘electronic communications technology’, in relation to a meeting referred to in subsection (1), means technology that enables real time transmission and real time two-way audio-visual or audio communication.”.”.

Amendment No. 44 amends section 30 of the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020. It provides for unincorporated bodies such as golf clubs and voluntary committees to conduct their meetings remotely if they so wish, notwithstanding any internal rules of the body recurring in person meetings. A similar provision was included in the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020, however, this is linked to the pandemic and has expired. This particular provision is no longer linked to the pandemic. It is introduced to make that rule that was quite effective during the pandemic a now permanent amendment to the legislation.