4A. —(1) Where for the time being no person stands appointed as the principal officer of a public body, the Government may by order designate a person to be head of the public body for the purposes of this Act.

(2) Every order under subsection (1) shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.]