4.—(1) (a) The Minister may by order appoint a Central Authority (“the Central Authority”) to discharge the functions required of it under this Act or required of a central authority under the Rome Convention or of a transmitting agency or receiving agency under the New York Convention.

(b) Pending the appointment of a Central Authority the Minister shall discharge its functions, and references in this Act to the Central Authority shall be construed accordingly as references to the Minister.

(c) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order made under this section.

(2) F6[(a) For the purposes of section 8 of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1940 (as amended by section 63 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011), the Acts of 1976, 1995, 1996 and 1998, the Brussels I Regulation, and the 2007 Lugano Convention, the Central Authority shall have authority to act on behalf of a maintenance creditor or of a claimant (as defined in section 13(1)), and references therein to a maintenance creditor or to such a claimant shall be construed as including references to that Authority.

(aa) In paragraph (a) ‘maintenance creditor’ means, in the context of the Brussels I Regulation or the 2007 Lugano Convention, a maintenance creditor referred to in Article 5(2) of that Regulation or Article 5(2) of that Convention. ]

(b) Where the Central Authority so acts, payments of maintenance shall be made directly to the maintenance creditor or claimant unless the Central Authority requests that they be made to a public authority in the jurisdiction where the maintanance creditor or claimant resides.