QUALIFICATIONS (EDUCATION AND TRAINING) ACT, 1999

FIRST SCHEDULE

FIRST SCHEDULE

Sections 6,

13 and

22.

Membership And Meetings

1. In this Schedule “relevant body” means the Authority, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council or the Further Education and Training Awards Council, as the case may be.

2. (1) As soon as practicable after its establishment, a relevant body shall provide itself with and retain in its possession a seal.

(2) The seal of a relevant body shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairperson or a member of the relevant body, and by the signature of an employee of that body, authorised by the body to act in that behalf.

(3) Judicial notice shall be taken of the seal of a relevant body and every document purporting to be an instrument made by and to be sealed with the seal of a relevant body (purporting to be authenticated in accordance with subparagraph (2)) shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such instrument without proof unless the contrary is shown.

3. (1) A member of a relevant body (other than the chairperson or an ex officio member) may, for stated reasons, be removed from office by resolution of the relevant body.

(2) A member of a relevant body (other than the chairperson or an ex officio member) may, at any time, resign from office as a member by notice in writing to the chairperson and the resignation shall take effect on the date on which the chairperson receives the notice.

(3) A member of a relevant body (other than an ex officio member), including the chairperson, who is absent from all meetings of the relevant body for a period of six consecutive months, unless the absence was due to illness or was approved by that body, shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a member of the body.

(4) A member of a relevant body (including the chairperson) whose term of office expires by effluxion of time shall be eligible for reappointment to the relevant body.

4. (1) Subject to this Schedule, the term of office of a member of a relevant body (other than an ex officio member), including the chairperson, shall be five years from the date of his or her appointment.

(2) Subject to subparagraph (3), a member of a relevant body (other than an ex officio member), shall not serve more than two terms of office on that body.

(3) The terms of office referred to in subparagraph (2) shall not include any term of office as chairperson of the relevant body.

5. (1) If a member of a relevant body, other than the chairperson, dies, resigns, is removed from office or for any other reason ceases to hold office, the relevant body shall arrange for the filling of the casual vacancy so occasioned as soon as practicable.

(2) A person who becomes a member of a relevant body pursuant to this paragraph shall, subject to this Schedule, hold office for the remainder of the term of office of the member whose death, resignation, removal from office or ceasing for other reasons to hold office occasioned the casual vacancy and shall, subject to paragraph 3 (4), be eligible for reappointment as a member of the body on the expiry of that period.

6. (1) Each relevant body shall have a chairperson, as provided for in section 49.

(2) The chairperson may, at any time, resign from office as chairperson by notice in writing to the Minister, a copy of which shall be sent to the relevant body, and the resignation shall take effect on the date on which the Minister receives the notice.

7. Where a person ceases to hold the office of chairperson, he or she shall at the same time cease to be a member of the relevant body concerned.

8. The chairperson of a relevant body shall not hold the office of chairperson of that body for more than two terms of office.

9. (1) Each relevant body shall, from time to time as the occasion requires, appoint from amongst its members a member (other than the chief executive) to be its deputy-chairperson.

(2) The deputy-chairperson shall, unless he or she sooner resigns as deputy-chairperson, hold office until he or she ceases to be a member of a relevant body.

10. The chairperson and members of a relevant body (other than an ex officio member who is an employee of the relevant body) shall be paid out of funds at the disposal of that body such allowances or expenses, if any, as the Minister, with the approval of the Minister for Finance, may determine.

11. (1) Each relevant body shall hold at least four meetings in any 12 month period, and such and so many other meetings and at such times, as the chairperson may determine.

(2) The chairperson of a relevant body shall convene a meeting of the relevant body whenever requested to do so by not less than the number of members which constitute a quorum.

(3) The quorum for a meeting of a relevant body shall be one-third of the total number of members, rounded up to the nearest whole number, plus one.

12. At a meeting of a relevant body—

(a) the chairperson shall, if present, be the chairperson of the meeting, or

(b) if and so long as the chairperson is not present or the office of chairperson is vacant, the deputy-chairperson shall, if present, be the chairperson of the meeting, or

(c) if and so long as the chairperson is not present or the office of chairperson is vacant, and the deputy-chairperson is not present or the office of deputy-chairperson is vacant, the members of the relevant body who are present shall choose one of their number to preside at the meeting.

13. Every question at a meeting of a relevant body shall be determined by consensus, but where in the opinion of the chairperson or other person presiding consensus is not possible, the question shall be decided by a majority of the votes of members present, including the chairperson, and voting on the question and, in the case of an equal division of votes, the chairperson or other person presiding shall have a second or casting vote.

14. Subject to paragraph 11(3), a relevant body may act notwithstanding one or more than one vacancy among its members or any deficiency in the appointment of a member which may subsequently be discovered.

15. Subject to this Act, a relevant body may make, from time to time, such rules as it thinks fit for the procedures and business of the relevant body.

SECOND SCHEDULE

SECOND SCHEDULE

Section 50.

Chief Executive

1. In this Schedule “relevant body” means the Authority, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council or the Further Education and Training Awards Council, as the case may be.

2. The chief executive of a relevant body shall perform his or her functions subject to such policies as may be determined from time to time by the relevant body and shall be answerable to that body for the efficient and effective management of that body and for the due performance of his or her functions.

3. (1) The chief executive of a relevant body may delegate any of his or her functions to an employee of the relevant body, unless they are so delegated to the chief executive subject to the condition that they shall not be sub-delegated, and the employee concerned shall be accountable to the chief executive for the performance of the functions so delegated.

(2) Notwithstanding any such delegation, the chief executive shall at all times remain accountable to the relevant body concerned for the performance of the functions so delegated.

4. The chief executive of a relevant body shall not hold any other office or position without the consent of the relevant body concerned.

5. The chief executive of a relevant body shall hold office on such terms and conditions (including terms and conditions relating to remuneration, fees, allowance and expenses) as may be determined by that body with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance.

THIRD SCHEDULE

THIRD SCHEDULE

Section 52.

Superannuation

1. In this Schedule “relevant body” means the Authority, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council or the Further Education and Training Awards Council, as the case may be.

2. As soon as practicable after the commencement of Part VIII a relevant body shall, subject to section 52, prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of such employees of the relevant body as the body thinks fit.

3. Every such scheme shall fix the time and conditions of retirement of all persons to or in respect of whom superannuation benefits are payable under the scheme and different times and conditions may be fixed in respect of different classes of persons.

4. A relevant body may at any time prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme amending a scheme previously submitted and approved under this Schedule.

5. A scheme or amending scheme submitted to the Minister under this Schedule shall, if approved by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, be carried out by the relevant body in accordance with its terms.

6. If a dispute arises as to the claim of any person to, or the amount of, any superannuation benefit payable pursuant to a scheme under this Schedule, such dispute shall be submitted to the Minister for determination by the Minister, whose decision shall be final, subject to the agreement of the Minister for Finance.

7. No superannuation benefit shall be granted by a relevant body to or in respect of any of its employees who are members of a scheme under this Schedule, nor shall any other arrangement be entered into for the provision of any superannuation benefit to such persons on their ceasing to hold office, other than—

(a) in accordance with such scheme or schemes submitted and approved under this Schedule, or

(b) with the approval of the Minister subject to the consent of the Minister for Finance.

8. Every scheme submitted and approved under this Schedule shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as practicable after it is so approved, and if either House, within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the scheme is laid before it, passes a resolution annulling the scheme, the scheme shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under the scheme.

9. Where, in the period between the establishment of a relevant body and the coming into operation of a scheme under this Schedule, a superannuation benefit would have been granted to or in respect of a person accepted into the service of a relevant body under section 52, in respect of the person's service in the National Council for Educational Awards, then the superannuation benefit shall be granted and paid to or in respect of that person by the relevant body and, for that purpose, his or her pensionable service with that body shall be aggregated with his or her previous pensionable service.