1 January 2027
1.1 For the purposes of facilitating proper governance and cooperation in respect of IReL, there shall be a governance committee (“Governance Committee”) which shall:
For the purposes of facilitating proper governance and cooperation in respect of IReL, there shall be a governance committee (“Governance Committee”) which shall:
a) be competency based and comprised of nominees of Core Member representative bodies (IUA/TUA) and such number as MU considers appropriate from time to time of representatives from related sectoral bodies and entities for libraries, higher education and/or research appointed by MU (“Representatives”). Unless otherwise determined by the Governance Committee, Associate Members shall not have the right to appoint representatives to the Governance Committee;
b) be chaired by the Maynooth University President;
c) be hosted and supported by MU;
d) have such functions, reporting and meeting requirements, procedures and roles and responsibilities as the Governance Committee may determine from time to time (which may be amended by the Governance Committee from time to time). Unless otherwise determined by the Governance Committee, the Governance Committee:
i) shall meet a least three (3) times per year and decisions shall be passed by a majority of the quorum for meetings (which shall be fifty one per cent (51%) of Representatives, with each Representative having one (1) vote). In the event of a split decision, the chair of the Governance Committee shall have the casting vote;
ii) may delegate authority to the IReL Director; and
iii) shall be responsible for selecting IReL Resources.
1.2 In connection with its functions, the Governance Committee may interact and work with the following IReL committees and groups and any other committees or groups that may be established by the Governance Committee from time to time, the terms of reference of which and the members of which shall be as determined by the Governance Committee from time to time:
(a) the IReL Advisory Committee (AC), which provides multi-stakeholder expert guidance on IReL policy and strategy to the IReL Governance Committee;
(b) the IReL Negotiations Group who help to ensure that the catalogue of IReL Resources is developed in line with IReL’s mission, to support the negotiation of favourable terms and conditions and pricing for agreements with publishers and vendors in accordance with IReL’s strategy and policies, and to ensure that agreements are in line with local institutional implementation requirements;
(c) the IReL Executive, led by the IReL Director, who reports to the Governance Committee;
(d) the IReL Persistent Identifiers (PID) Committee Advisory Group, which works with other consortiums, including ORCID and Datacite. The IReL PID Committee Advisory Group focuses on international trends and best practices, identifying opportunities both nationally and internationally to make the best use of persistent identifiers (PIDs) and setting national priorities on how to adopt and implement these identifiers; and
(e) the National Open Research Monitor Advisory Group, which provides external oversight and advice to IReL on the strategic direction and development of the National Open Research Monitor to ensure that the service is developed in line with best practice and is aligned with IReL’s mission.
1.3 As of 1 January 2027:
(a) the members of the Governance Committee and the committees and groups established by the Governance Committee shall be deemed to be the same as the members of the governance committee and such other committees and groups that existed on 31 December 2026 pursuant to the consortium agreement between certain members and MU dated November 2016 (the “Consortium Agreement”).
(b) the terms of reference of the committees and groups established by the Governance Committee shall be deemed to be the same as the terms of reference of such other committees and groups that existed on 31 December 2026 pursuant to the Consortium Agreement.
1.4 Capitalised terms used in this document that are not otherwise defined have the meaning given to them in the member agreements between MU and Members of IReL.