147.—(1) Notwithstanding any other enactment, a person appointed to a position of chief executive holds the employment unless he or she earlier dies, resigns or is removed, during whichever of the following tenure periods is the shorter—

(a) a period of such length as the Minister specifies by order,

(b) the period from the date of the appointment to the date on which he or she attains F226[the age of 70 years or, where a higher age is prescribed by order under section 3A(2) of the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 for the purposes of that Act, that age],

and on the expiration of that period he or she ceases to hold the employment F227[but, where the person is a new entrant (within the meaning of the aforementioned Act) appointed on or after 1 April 2004, the requirement to cease to hold the employment on grounds of age shall not apply].

(2) Notwithstanding any enactment (including subsection (1)) or instrument made under such enactment, the tenure period of a chief executive referred to in subsection (1)(a) shall, subject to and in accordance with this section and with regulations made by the Minister for the purposes of this subsection, be extended where notification (in this section referred to as the "prescribed notification")—

(a) is given by the chief executive to the Cathaoirleach of the local authority concerned, and

(b) is in the form prescribed by regulations made under this section, but in no case shall the tenure period as so extended exceed 10 years.

(3) On receipt of a prescribed notification the Cathaoirleach of the local authority concerned shall—

(a) inform the members of the local authority of it at the next meeting of that local authority, and

(b) transmit a copy of it to the Minister and to the chief executive of the Public Appointments Service.

(4) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of subsection (2) and such regulations may provide for:

(a) the form of the prescribed notification;

(b) the period (in this section referred to as the "notification period") within which a prescribed notification shall be given;

(c) subject to subsection (2), the period by which the tenure period shall be extended;

(d) the position of chief executive to which subsection (5) does not apply;

(e) the application of different periods for the purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c) to specified classes of chief executive.

(5) Subject to regulations made under subsection (4)(d) —

(a) a chief executive whose tenure period is extended under subsection (2) shall not apply for appointment to any position of chief executive during the period commencing on the date the chief executive gives a prescribed notification and ending on a date which is 6 months prior to the expiration of the extended tenure period (in this subsection referred to as the "exclusion period"), and

(b) notwithstanding section 6 of the Local Authorities (Officers Employees) Act 1926, a chief executive who has given a prescribed notification shall not be considered by the Public Appointments Service for selection for any position of chief executive during the exclusion period.

(6)(a) A notification period referred to in subsection (4) (b) shall be wholly within the tenure period.

(b) A prescribed notification for the purposes of this section which is given outside of the notification period is invalid.

(7) Where the tenure period of a chief executive stands extended in accordance with this section, such extended tenure period shall be the tenure period for the purposes of subsection (2) of section 145 and that section shall apply accordingly.

(8) The Local Government (Tenure of Office) Order 2000 (S.I. No. 221 of 2000) and the Local Government (Tenure of Office of Managers) Regulations 2000 (S.I. No. 219 of 2000) shall be deemed to have been made under subsections (1) and (4), respectively, and shall continue to have effect and may be amended or revoked accordingly.

(9) Nothing in this section operates to interfere with or alter the tenure of a chief executive—

(a) whose tenure is governed by an order under section 47 of the Local Government Act 1991 (in this subsection referred to as the "Act of 1991"), or

(b) whose tenure is governed by such an order and section 47A (inserted by section 1 of the Local Government Act 2000) of the Act of 1991,

notwithstanding the repeal by this Act of the Act of 1991 and of the Local Government Act 2000.]