In answer to your enquiry - I refer you to the Rules for Regional
Councils,
1996, published by An Coimisiun Le Rinci Gaelacha.
In this
rulebook, the following quotations may assist in your deliberations:
para
3.1.3. " a member means a member of a Council validly elected or
nominated
to such membership in accordance with these rules, or entitled to
such
membership ex-officio as provided....."
The comment 'or nominated' refers to
lay members, as teacher members of the
Councils are elected annually, in a
ballot conducted by An Coimisiun.
para 7 - in the main refers to Council
Membership.
7.1.1 states ' The membership of a Regional Council will
normally consist of
the following members:
a) six registered teachers
and/or adjudicators elected by secret postal
ballot by teachers and
adjudicators resident in the region . Candidates,
their nominators and those
entitled to vote, must be currently registered
with An Coimisiun at the dates
of nomination and election. The method of
nomination and election of these
prospective members is as prescribed by An
Coimisiun.
b) six members,
who normally must not be teachers or adjudicators,
nominated at its sole
discretion by An Coimisiun. An Coimisiun however in
making its nominations
will take into account suggestions from the regions
concerned, but is not
under any obligation to accept such suggestions either
in whole or in
part.
c) members of An Coimisiun itself normally resident in the region,
except
in the case of the Leinster Council. In the case of the Leinster
Council,
An Coimisiun will nominate four of its members resident in the
province to
membershioop of the council.
Paragraph 7 does go on to
discuss additional numbers in excess of 6
teachers/lay people. It is the
case in some regions that the 6 lay posts
are taken by teachers.
The
lay members are usually 'found' within the region, and each council has
its
own method of deliberating their suitability. The names are submitted
to An
Coimisiun in time for the Annual General Meeting (May each year) where
the
general meeting agree to those submissions, or reject. see rule 7.1.1
(b)
above.
Therefore in answer to your query, there is no variation in the
rules,
merely that some geographic differences are applied locally, the Rules
for
Regional Councils apply notwithstanding to all those registered or
otherwise
affiliated, I would suggest.
I personally have been a member
of the Southern England regional Council for
about 16 years. I am currently
the Chairman of that Council, in my second
term. My previous term was in the
early to mid 1990s.
I trust that this has been of interest. I have gone
into some detail as I
feel it is most important that the rules that exist are
made known to all,
certainly some are regarded as a best kept
secret!
Regards
Sean Hennigan
Chairman
Southern England
Regional Council
Our communities reaction?
Ouch!!