No. 24/1957:

SCHOLARSHIP EXCHANGE (IRELAND AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) ACT, 1957

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Definitions.

2 Establishment of An Bord Scoláireachtaí Cómalairte.

3 Membership of the Board and term of office.

4 Chairman of the Board.

5 Functions of the Board.

6 Scholarship Exchange Fund.

7 Payments out of the Fund in relation to functions of the Board.

8 Annual programme.

9 Annual report.

10 Meetings and procedure of the Board.

11 Seal of the Board.

12 Resignation and removal of member of the Board and filling of casual vacancies.

13 Gifts to the Board.

14 Accommodation and secretarial services.

15 Expenses of member of the Board.

16 Accounts and audit.

17 Exemption from stamp duty.

18 Winding up of the Fund and dissolution of the Board.

19 Short title and commencement.

AN ACT TO GIVE EFFECT TO AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A SCHOLARSHIP EXCHANGE SCHEME AND THE UTILISATION FOR THAT PURPOSE OF THE AMERICAN GRANT COUNTERPART SPECIAL ACCOUNT, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID.

[12th December, 1957]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1.—In this Act—

"the Board" has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 2;

"the Counterpart Special Account" means the American Grant Counterpart Special Account established by the Minister for Finance in the Central Bank of Ireland pursuant to Article IV of the Economic Co-operation Agreement between the Government and the Government of the United States of America dated the 28th day of June, 1948;

"the Fund" has the meaning specified in subsection (2) of section 6;

"the Minister" means the Minister for External Affairs;

"the representative of the United States" means the Chief for the time being of the Diplomatic Mission of the United States of America to Ireland.

2.—(1) There shall be established by virtue of this section a body to be known as An Bord Scoláireachtaí Cómalairte (in this Act referred to as the Board) to perform the functions given to them by this Act.

(2) The Board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and power to sue and be sued in their corporate name and to acquire, hold and dispose of land.

3.—(1) The Board shall consist of seven members

(2) Four of the members of the Board shall be Irish citizens and shall be appointed by the Minister.

(3) Three of the members of the Board shall be citizens of the United States of America and shall be appointed by the representative of the United States.

(4) A member of the Board shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns or is removed from office, hold office until the 31st day of December next following the expiration of two years beginning on the day of his appointment to be a member.

(5) A member of the Board whose period of office expires by effluxion of time shall be eligible for re-appointment.

4.—(1) The Chairman of the Board shall be that member of the Board appointed by the Minister who, at the time of his appointment to be a member of the Board or subsequently, is appointed by the Minister to be chairman of the Board.

(2) The chairman of the Board may at any time resign his office as chairman by letter sent by registered post to the Board, and the resignation shall take effect at the commencement of the meeting of the Board held next after the receipt of the letter if the resignation is not withdrawn in writing before that meeting.

(3) The chairman of the Board shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns from office as chairman or member of the Board or is removed from office as member of the Board, hold office as chairman of the Board until he ceases by effluxion of time to be a member of the Board.

5.—The functions of the Board shall be the financing of studies, research, instruction, teaching, lecturing and other educational activities—

( a ) of Irish citizens in schools, universities, institutions of higher learning and other suitable institutions located in the United States of America, and American schools and suitable American institutions located elsewhere,

( b ) of citizens of the United States of America in schools, universities, institutions of higher learning and other suitable institutions located in the State,

and, in co-operation with the United States Board of Foreign Scholarships, the selecting of students, professors, teachers, research scholars and other suitable persons for that purpose.

6.—(1) During the period of sixty days beginning on the commencement of this Act, there shall be paid to the Board, out of the Counterpart Special Account the sum of five hundred thousand pounds.

(2) Upon receipt of the sum referred to in subsection (1) of this section, the Board shall establish with that sum a fund which shall be known as the Scholarship Exchange Fund (in this Act referred to as the Fund) and which shall be managed and controlled by the Board in accordance with this Act.

(3) ( a ) The Board shall invest amounts standing to the credit of the Fund (excepting sums required to meet current expenditure) in such securities as may be approved of by the Minister for Finance.

( b ) The Board may vary or transpose moneys invested under this subsection into other investments approved of by the Minister for Finance, and may at any time, subject to the approval of that Minister, sell or otherwise dispose of any investments under this subsection.

( c ) Dividends and interest received by the Board on investments under this subsection, and amounts received by the Board on sales or other disposals of such investments, shall be paid into the Fund.

7.—The Board may make payments out of the Fund for the purpose of carrying out their functions and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the payments may include payments for transportation, tuition and maintenance and payments connected with the proper administration of the affairs of the Board.

8.—(1) The Board shall, after consultation with the United States Board of Foreign Scholarships, submit to the Minister, before the 1st day of April in each year, a proposed programme and an estimated budget setting forth their requirements for the period of twelve months beginning on that day.

(2) The Minister may, if he so thinks proper, approve of a programme and budget submitted to him under this section.

(3) The expenditure of the Board during each period of twelve months beginning on the 1st day of April shall be in accordance with the programme and budget in respect of that period approved of by the Minister under this section.

9.—(1) The Board shall, before the 30th day of June in each year, submit to the Minister a report of their activities during the period of twelve months which ended on the 31st day of March in that year.

(2) The Minister shall cause copies of a report under this section to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and a copy thereof to be sent to the United States Board of Foreign Scholarships.

10.—(1) The Board shall hold at least one meeting in each quarter of the year and shall also hold such other meetings as may be necessary for the due performance of their functions.

(2) The quorum for a meeting of the Board shall be such as shall be fixed by rules under this section and, until such rules are made, shall be three.

(3) The chairman of the Board shall act as chairman of every meeting of the Board at which he is present.

(4) During the absence of the chairman of the Board from any meeting of the Board or if when any meeting of the Board is held there is no chairman of the Board, the members of the Board present shall elect one of themselves to be chairman of the meeting for the time being and, where at such election there is an equality of votes for two or more persons, it shall be determined by lot which of them shall be chairman of the meeting for the time being.

(5) Every question at a meeting of the Board shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting on the question, but, in the case of an equal division of votes, the chairman of the meeting shall, if the rules under this section so provide, have a second or casting vote.

(6) The Board may act notwithstanding one or more vacancies in their membership.

(7) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board shall regulate the procedure and business of the Board by rules made by the Board with the approval of the Minister.

(8) The Minister may fix the date, time and place of the first meeting of the Board.

11.—(1) The Board shall provide themselves with a seal, and such seal shall be authenticated by the signatures of two members of the Board.

(2) Judicial notice shall be taken of the seal of the Board, and every document purporting to be an instrument made by the Board and to be sealed with the seal (purporting to be authenticated in accordance with this section) of the Board shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown.

12.—(1) A member of the Board may at any time resign his office as member of the Board by letter sent by registered post to the Board, and the resignation shall take effect at the commencement of the meeting of the Board held next after the receipt of the letter if the resignation is not withdrawn in writing before that meeting.

(2) A member of the Board appointed by the Minister may be removed from office by the Minister.

(3) A member of the Board appointed by the representative of the United States may be removed from office by the representative of the United States.

(4) Where a member of the Board appointed by the Minister dies, resigns or is removed from office, the Minister shall, as soon as conveniently may be, appoint another person who shall be an Irish citizen to be a member.

(5) Where a member of the Board appointed by the representative of the United States dies, resigns or is removed from office, the representative of the United States shall, as soon as conveniently may be, appoint another person who shall be a citizen of the United States of America to be a member.

13.—(1) The Board may accept any gifts of real and personal property which may be made to them for the purposes for which they were established.

(2) Gifts under this section of money shall be paid into the Fund.

(3) Gifts under this section which are not gifts of money shall be sold or otherwise disposed of and the proceeds paid into the Fund.

14.—(1) The Minister shall provide such accommodation and secretarial services as he considers necessary for the proper functioning of the Board.

(2) The Board shall reimburse the Minister out of the Fund for any expenses incurred by him in relation to such secretarial services.

15.—The Board may, if they think fit, reimburse a member of the Board out of the Fund for any necessary expenses incurred by him as a member.

16.—(1) The Board shall keep accounts of the Fund and of all payments made into and out of the Fund in such form as may be approved of by the Minister after consultation with the Minister for Finance.

(2) The accounts under this section shall be submitted annually by the Board to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit at such time as the Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Finance, directs.

(3) Upon completion of an audit under this section, the Board shall submit to the Minister an abstract of the accounts certified by the Comptroller and Auditor General and his report on the accounts, and the Minister shall cause copies of the abstract and report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

17.—Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any conveyance, transfer or other instrument executed for the purpose of vesting property or any interest in property in the Board.

18.—(1) If at any time the Board, with the approval of the Minister and the representative of the United States, decide that it is expedient that the Fund be wound up, the Board shall determine a day on which the Fund is to be wound up and it shall be wound up on that day.

(2) Before the Fund is wound up pursuant to subsection (1) of this section—

( a ) the liabilities of the Fund shall be discharged, and

( b ) as respects any balance remaining in the Fund after discharge of liabilities, it shall be paid into the fund referred to in paragraph 4 of Article III of the Agreement between the Government and the Government of the United States of America governing disposition of the balance in the Counterpart Special Account and dated the 17th day of June, 1954, or, if the fund so referred to has ceased to exist, paid to the Government to be used or disposed of by them in such manner and for such purposes as they may from time to time agree on with the Government of the United States of America.

(3) If at any time the Fund becomes exhausted otherwise than consequent upon the requirements of subsection (2) of this section having been fulfilled, the Board shall determine a day on which the Fund is to be wound up and it shall be wound up on that day.

(4) The Board shall become dissolved and shall cease to exist on the expiration of the day on which the Fund is wound up.

19.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Scholarship Exchange (Ireland and the United States of America) Act, 1957 .

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.