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17 1961

CHARITIES ACT, 1961

PART II.

The Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland and their Jurisdiction.

Chapter I.

The Board.

Continuance of Board.

5. —The Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland (in this Act referred to as the Board) shall continue in being, notwithstanding the repeals effected by this Act, as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may in their corporate name sue and be sued.

Power to hold land.

6. —The Board shall in their corporate name have and be deemed always to have had power to acquire, hold and dispose of land.

Constitution.

7. —The Board shall consist of not more than eleven members.

Membership.

8. —(1) The Government shall appoint persons to be members of the Board from time to time as occasion requires.

(2) Each member of the Board shall hold office until his death, resignation or removal from office.

(3) The Government may remove from office any member of the Board.

(4) The appointment or removal of a member of the Board shall be published in Iris Oifigiúil.

(5) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act, and thereafter as occasion requires, the Board shall appoint a member of the Board to be the Chairman of the Board and the Chairman shall hold office for such period as the Board determine when appointing him.

(6) The persons who are members of the Board immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in office as if appointed under this section.

Procedure.

9. —(1) At a meeting of the Board, if the Chairman of the Board is absent, the senior member in order of appointment or such other member as the Board may select shall be chairman.

(2) A member who continues in office on the commencement of this Act shall take rank according to the date of his original appointment.

(3) Every question at a meeting of the Board shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting and, in the case of an equal division of votes, the chairman of the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

(4) At a meeting of the Board three members shall form a quorum, if due notice of that meeting was given to all the members.

Officers and servants.

10. —(1) The Minister for Justice, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, shall from time to time as occasion requires appoint a secretary of the Board and may, with the like consent, appoint such other officers and such servants as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act.

(2) The Secretary and the other officers and servants of the Board shall hold office on such terms and receive such remuneration as the Minister for Finance determines.

(3) The Secretary and the other officers and servants of the Board holding office immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in office as if appointed under this section.

Seal.

11. —(1) The seal of the Board shall be affixed only by order of the Board and its affixation shall be attested by the signatures of two members of the Board or of a member of the Board and the Secretary.

(2) The seal of the Board shall be judicially noticed and every document purporting to be sealed with the seal of the Board and to be attested in accordance with this section shall, unless the contrary is shown, be received in evidence without further proof.

Minutes of proceedings.

12. —(1) The Secretary or some other officer of the Board shall make minutes of the proceedings of the Board at each meeting and shall keep a book (in this section referred to as the Minute Book) in which he shall enter—

(a) a fair copy of those minutes, and

(b) the names of the members present at that meeting.

(2) The minutes of the proceedings at a meeting of the Board, as entered in the Minute Book, shall be read at the next meeting of the Board and, if approved as correct, shall be signed by the chairman of the meeting at which they are so read.

Membership of Board not to disqualify Judge from hearing charity cases.

13. —A Judge of any Court shall not be prevented or disabled by reason solely of his being a member of the Board from hearing and determining any case relating to a charity or any case arising under this Act, but may hear and determine it as if he were not a member of the Board.

Audit of Accounts.

14. —(1) In this section—

the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government;

the auditor” means, in relation to an audit under this section, the auditor appointed by the Minister to hold that audit;

the accounts” means the accounts of the Board.

(2) The accounts shall be made up to the 31st day of December in each year in such form as the Minister may from time to time approve.

(3) The accounts shall once in each year be audited by such auditor of the Minister as the Minister may from time to time appoint.

(4) The following provisions shall apply in relation to an audit under this section—

(a) for the purposes of the audit, the Board shall furnish to the Minister, before the end of the month of June in each year, an abstract of the accounts of the Board in such form as shall be approved by the Minister from time to time;

(b) the auditor shall give to the Secretary six days' notice prior to the holding of the audit at the office of the Board;

(c) the auditor may, by giving notice in that behalf in writing to any person, require that person to attend at the office of the Board at such time as is specified in the notice to give evidence on oath in relation to any matter in question at the audit and to produce any books, deeds, accounts, vouchers or other documents in his possession, custody or control which relate to any such matter, and—

(i) any person to whom a notice has been given under this paragraph who refuses or wilfully neglects to attend in accordance with the notice or who wilfully alters, suppresses, conceals or destroys any document to which the notice relates, or who, having so attended, refuses to give evidence or refuses or wilfully fails to produce any document to which the notice relates shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and

(ii) any person who in giving such evidence on oath wilfully makes a statement which is to his knowledge false or misleading in any material respect shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment;

(d) on the completion of the audit, the auditor shall certify the said abstract;

(e) the auditor shall, within fourteen days after certifying the said abstract, send it to the Minister together with a report upon the accounts;

(f) the Minister shall transmit a copy of the auditor's report and the said abstract to the Secretary and shall transmit a copy of the said report to the Minister for Justice.

Report.

15. —(1) The Board shall, once at least in every year and also whenever the Government so require, report to the Government their proceedings under this Act.

(2) A copy of each report made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

Restriction on payment by Board of solicitor's costs.

16. —The Board shall not pay any sum to a solicitor employed by them as and for costs or expenses to be defrayed out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas unless the amount thereof has been approved by the Minister for Finance, who shall before approving thereof have particulars of the costs and expenses laid before him.

Indemnity of Board and persons acting under their direction.

17. —No matter or thing done by the Board or by any person acting under their direction shall, if done bona fide in the execution of this Act, render any member of the Board or person acting under their direction personally liable to any proceedings.

Service of notices on Board.

18. —A notice may be served on the Board—

(a) by leaving a copy thereof with the Secretary at the office of the Board, or

(b) by sending a copy thereof by registered post in an envelope addressed to the Board at that office.

Costs of Board to be borne by charity.

19. —Any costs or expenses incurred by the Board in the management or administration or for the preservation or recovery of any property vested in the Board or otherwise in the execution of this Act may be borne by and deducted by the Board from the estate and funds of the charity in respect of which those costs and expenses were incurred.