Consumer Protection Act 2007

Membership of either House of the Oireachtas, European Parliament or local authority.

18.— (1) Where a member of the Agency, the chief executive or a member of the staff of the Agency is—

(a) nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann, or

(b) elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or to be a member of the European Parliament, or

(c) regarded pursuant to section 19 of the European Parliament Elections Act 1997 as having been elected to that Parliament, or

(d) elected or co-opted as a member of a local authority,

he or she shall thereupon—

(i) in the case of a member of the Agency or the chief executive, cease to be a member of the Agency or the chief executive, as the case may be, and

(ii) in the case of a member of the staff of the Agency, stand seconded from employment by the Agency and shall not be paid by, or entitled to receive from, the Agency any remuneration or allowances for expenses in respect of the period commencing on such nomination or election, or when he or she is so regarded as having been elected or on such election or co-option, as the case may be, and ending when he or she ceases to be a member of such House, a representative of such Parliament or a member of a local authority.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), that subsection shall be read as prohibiting the reckoning of a period therein mentioned as service with the Agency for the purposes of any superannuation benefits payable under section 36 or otherwise.

(3) A person who is for the time being—

(a) entitled under the Standing Orders of either House of the Oireachtas to sit therein,

(b) a member of the European Parliament, or

(c) entitled under the standing orders of a local authority to sit as a member thereof,

shall, while he or she is so entitled or is such a member, be disqualified from becoming a member of the Agency, the chief executive or a member of the staff of the Agency.

(4) In this section “ local authority” means a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 .