1.—(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—

“action” includes decision, failure to act and omission and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;

“civil servant” has the meaning assigned to it by the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956;

F1["eligible person" means—

(a) a person other than a reviewable agency or an exempt agency, and

(b) a person (being an individual who constitutes, or is a member, officer, employee or agent of, a reviewable agency or an exempt agency) in that person’s private capacity;

"entity" means a person, body of persons, organisation or group, including, in particular, an organ of government, or an element of an organ of government, at national or local level;

"exempt agency" means—

(a) an entity specified in the Second Schedule,

(b) an element of a reviewable agency that is excluded from review by—

(i) Part II of the First Schedule, or

(ii) an order under section 1A or 4(10);]

“functions” includes powers and duties and a reference to the performance of a function includes, with respect to powers, a reference to the exercise of a power;

“local authority” means a local authority for the purposes of the F2[Local Government Act 2001];

F2["Minister" means the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform;

"reviewable agency" means—

(a) an entity (whether established before or after the enactment of the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012) within the meaning of Part I of the First Schedule, except to the extent that any element of that entity is expressed by Part II of that Schedule or an order under section 4(10) to be excluded from review, and

(b) an entity declared by an order under section 1A to be a reviewable agency, except to the extent that any element of that entity is expressed by that order to be excluded.]

(2) Save where the context otherwise requires, references in this Act to any Department of State include references to the Minister of the Government having charge of that Department of State and to officers of that Minister of the Government and, if and so long as any of the functions of that Minister of the Government stand delegated to a Minister of State at a Department of State, include references to that Minister of State at a Department of State.

(3) Save where the context otherwise requires, references in this Act to F2[an entity (other than a Department of State) that is a reviewable agency or an exempt agency] include—

(a) as respects the business and functions of F2[the entity], references to the Department of State in which any of them are comprised and to the Minister of the Government having charge of that Department of State, and

(b) as respects functions in relation to F2[the entity] performed by a Department of State, references to that Department of State and to the Minister of the Government having charge of it,

and to officers of those Ministers of the Government and members, officers and staff of F2[the entity] and, if and so long as any of the functions of any of those Ministers of the Government stand delegated to a Minister of State at a Department of State, to that Minister of State at a Department of State.