7.—(1) There shall be a chief officer of the Bureau who shall be known, and is referred to in this Act, as the Chief Bureau Officer.

(2) The Commissioner shall, from time to time, appoint to the Bureau the Chief Bureau Officer and may, at any time, remove the Chief Bureau Officer from his or her appointment with the Bureau.

(3) The Chief Bureau Officer shall carry on and manage and control generally the administration and business of the Bureau.

(4) The Chief Bureau Officer shall be responsible to the Commissioner for the performance of the functions of the Bureau.

(5) (a) In the event of incapacity through illness, or absence otherwise, of the Chief Bureau Officer, the Commissioner may appoint to the Bureau a person, who shall be known, and is referred to in this section, as the Acting Chief Bureau Officer, to perform the functions of the Chief Bureau Officer.

(b) The Commissioner may, at any time, remove the Acting Chief Bureau Officer from his or her appointment with the Bureau and shall, in any event, remove the Acting Chief Bureau Officer from that appointment upon being satisfied that the incapacity or absence of the Chief Bureau Officer has ceased and that the Chief Bureau Officer has resumed the performance of the functions of Chief Bureau Officer.

(c) Subsections (3) and (4) and paragraph (a) shall apply to the Acting Chief Bureau Officer as they apply to the Chief Bureau Officer.

(6) The Chief Bureau Officer shall be appointed from amongst the members of the Garda Síochána of the rank of Chief Superintendent.

(7) For the purposes of this Act other than subsections (1), (3) and (9) of section 8, the Chief Bureau Officer or Acting Chief Bureau Officer, as the case may be, shall be a bureau officer.