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51 1998

EDUCATION ACT, 1998

PART IX

Bodies Corporate

Establishment of bodies to provide services related to education.

54. —(1) The Minister, with the concurrence of the Government, may from time to time by order (in this Act referred to as an “establishment order”) establish a body to perform, subject to subsection (2), functions in or in relation to the provision of support services.

(2) The performance of functions by a body established under subsection (1) shall be subject to the determination of matters of policy by the Minister.

(3) A body established under subsection (1) shall be known by such title as may be specified in the establishment order.

(4) A body so established shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a seal and with power to sue and be sued in its corporate name and to hold land.

(5) The Minister may from time to time by order amend an establishment order or an order made under this subsection.

(6) The person appointed as principal officer of a body established under subsection (1) shall be accountable to the Minister in carrying out the functions referred to in that subsection.

(7) Before making an order under this section the Minister shall consult, as the Minister considers appropriate, with persons directly affected by the proposed order or with trade unions or associations representing such persons.

(8) Notwithstanding section 5 , the Minister shall not make an order under this section unless he or she has first caused to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas a draft of the proposed order and a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by both Houses.

Membership and staff.

55. —(1) Every establishment order shall contain such provisions as the Minister considers appropriate in relation to—

(a) the number of members of the body established by the order, the method, terms and conditions of their appointment and their tenure of office, and

(b) the number, grades, qualifications, method of appointment (including secondment), conditions of service, tenure of office and the remuneration and superannuation of the persons employed in or by the body so established.

(2) A person seconded or transferred to a body established under section 54 , shall not, while in the service of that body, receive less remuneration or be subject to less beneficial conditions of service than the remuneration to which that person was entitled and the conditions of service to which that person was subject prior to such secondment or transfer.

Functions.

56. —An establishment order shall contain such provisions as the Minister considers appropriate defining the functions of the body established by the order and the manner in which and the conditions under which the body so established may perform the functions so defined.

Administration.

57. —An establishment order shall contain such provisions relating to the administration generally of the body established by the order as the Minister considers appropriate including provisions relating to—

(a) the meetings of the body so established and the procedure at such meetings,

(b) the use and authentication of its seal,

(c) the regulation of its finances and the keeping and auditing of its accounts, and

(d) the furnishing to the Minister by such body from time to time of information regarding the performance of its functions, and the furnishing of such information to the Minister at any time at his or her request.

Grants.

58. —In each financial year the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, out of monies provided by the Oireachtas, may make to a body appointed under section 54 a grant for the purposes of expenditure by that body in the performance of its functions.

Revocation of establishment order.

59. —(1) The Minister may at any time by order revoke an establishment order.

(2) A revoking order shall contain such provisions as the Minister thinks necessary or expedient consequential on the revocation, and, in particular, may make provision for—

(a) the dissolution of the body established by the establishment order and the transfer or distribution of the property, rights and liabilities thereof to any of the following—

(i) the Minister, or

(ii) any one or more than one other body established by an establishment order,

(b) the preservation of continuing contracts made by the dissolved body,

(c) the continuance of pending legal proceedings,

(d) notwithstanding any restriction in any other Act, the transfer of the holder of any office under the dissolved body to—

(i) the Department of Education and Science, or

(ii) any other body established by an establishment order.