Term of Office

Term of office, dismissal of Board or members, cessation of membership

(a) Term of office, dismissal

• The term of office of the Board shall be four years.
• A member, including the Chairperson, shall hold office for a period not longer than the term of the Board but may be eligible for re-appointment.
• In accordance with the Education Act, 1998 (Section 16), the Patron may with the consent of the Minister remove a member of the Board or dissolve the Board of Management (Rule 14).
• In accordance with the Education Act, 1998 (Section 17), the Minister for Education and Skills may require that patrons make arrangements for the dissolution of a Board and the appointment and election of a new Board where the Board has failed to fulfil its responsibilities.
• Before deciding to remove a member of the Board or to dissolve the Board the Patron shall inform that member or Board of the intention to so remove and the reasons therefor and shall afford such member or Board the opportunity to make representations to the Patron on the matter.
• Whenever the Patron dissolves a Board, the Patron may, subject to the approval of the Minister, appoint any person or body of persons as the Patron thinks fit to perform the functions of the Board, for a period not normally exceeding six months.
• Where the Patron removes a member of a Board the resulting vacancy shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of (c) below.

(b) Cessation of membership

Where a member (including the Chairperson):

• is adjudged a bankrupt, or
• under the protection or procedure of a court, has made a composition or arrangement with creditors, or
• is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, or placed on the Sex Offender's Register by a court of competent jurisdiction, or
• ceases to be a member of the category of person provided for, to which he or she belonged at the time of his or her becoming a member of the Board (see Note below), that member shall thereupon cease to be a member of the Board.

Note: Any parent who ceases to have a child enrolled in the school shall cease to be a member of the Board except in the case of a parent of a child who completes primary education on 30 June of the year in which the term of the current Board of Management expires. Such a parent may remain on the Board until the end of the Board's term of office provided this period does not exceed five months in total.

Vacancies

(i) Where a member of a Board:

• dies, or
• resigns by giving written notice to the Chairperson, or
• is absent from three consecutive ordinary meetings of that Board unless such absence was approved by that Board, or
• ceases to be a member of that Board by virtue of (b) above, or
• is removed by the Patron

that member's office shall become vacant and shall be filled, as soon as may be after the vacancy occurring, by a new member appointed in the same manner as that innwhich the vacating member was appointed.

(ii) The new member so appointed shall hold office for the residue of the vacating member's term.
(iii) Any change in the membership of the Board shall be recorded in the minutes of the next meeting of the Board.