Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I move amendment No. 18:

In page 15, before section 9, to insert the following new section:9.--(1) Subject to subsection (2), a member of the Authority shall hold office for such period, not exceeding 4 years from the date of his or her appointment, as the Government shall determine.
(2) (a) Of the members of the Authority that is first constituted under this Act, 5 (who shall not include the Chairperson), selected in accordance with paragraph (b), shall hold office for a period of 3 years from the date of their appointment as members.

(b) The members of the Authority referred to in paragraph (a) shall consist of--

(i) one of the two members of the Authority nominated for appointment by the Law Society under section 8(4), and
(ii) 4 other members of the Authority,

who shall be selected by the drawing of lots, conducted in such manner as the Chairperson of the Authority thinks proper, at the first meeting of the Authority referred to in section 10(3).
(c) A member of the Authority may be selected in accordance with paragraph (b) notwithstanding the fact that he or she is not present at the first meeting of the Authority.
(d) The quorum for the first meeting of the Authority, in so far as that meeting relates to selecting the members of the Authority referred to in paragraph (a), shall be 7 members of the Authority.

(3) Each member of the Authority--

(a) shall act on a part-time basis and on such other terms and conditions (other than the payment of remuneration and allowances for expenses) as the Government may determine, and
(b) shall be paid by the Authority such remuneration (if any) and allowances for expenses (if any) as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform may determine.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), a member of the Authority (including the Chairperson) whose term of office expires by the effluxion of time shall be eligible for reappointment as a member of the Authority.
(5) A person who is reappointed to the Authority in accordance with subsection (4) shall not hold office for periods the aggregate of which exceeds 8 years.
(6) A member of the Authority may resign from office by notice in writing addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect on the date the Minister receives the notice or, if a date is specified in the notice and the Minister agrees to that date, on that date.
(7) The Chairperson may resign from office as Chairperson by notice in writing addressed to the Minister, but shall, unless otherwise stated in the notice, continue to hold office as member of the Authority for the remainder of his or her term of office, and the resignation takes effect on the date the Minister receives the notice or, if a date is specified in the notice and the Minister agrees to that date, on that date.
(8) Subject to section 10(2), the Authority may act notwithstanding one or more vacancies in its membership.
(9) Where a member of the Authority dies, becomes disqualified for office, resigns, is removed from office or otherwise ceases to be a member, the Government may appoint a person to be a member of the Authority to fill the resultant casual vacancy, and such person shall hold office for the remainder of the term of office of the member who occasioned the casual vacancy.".

Much of this proposed amendment No. 18 is of a technical nature, in that it broadly reproduces existing provisions of the Bill. For drafting reasons, existing subsections of section 8, as published, have been drawn into this new section 9, the side note of which reads: "Term of appointment of members of Authority." Two aspects of the proposed section 9 are significant, in that they differ from the published Bill. First, it has been enhanced, in that it includes a provision for the staggering of appointments. The staggering of appointments device echoes similar provisions in the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011. It provides that, at the inception of the authority, five of its new members will be selected by the drawing of lots to have only a three-year renewable term. All other members will have a four-year renewable term.

The consequence of the provision is that there will still be a number of experienced members on the authority when the next group of new members are nominated. In this way, there is a graduated renewal of membership of the board and limited loss of memory and experience as members' terms expire. It will also provide any wholesale reconfiguration of the membership by external actors.

The second point to note is that the reference to the Minister for Justice and Equality in determining the remuneration of members of the authority in the published Bill will be removed if this amendment is accepted. It is but one example of my determination to reduce to the greatest possible extent the application of ministerial consents to the authority.