7.—(1) Subject to subsection (4), this Act does not apply to, and no order shall be made under section 6 in respect of, a position where the appointment concerned—

(a) is to a position of an office holder—

(i) under the Constitution, or

(ii) otherwise within the meaning given to office holder by section 2 of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 for the purposes of that Act,

(b) is to be made by the President,

(c) is to be made by the Government,

(d) is to the position of an officer of the Houses of the Oireachtas,

(e) is to a position of special adviser within the meaning of section 19 of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, or

(f) is of a person to a particular unestablished position where—

(i) the appropriate authority (within the meaning of section 2 of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956) with the consent of the Minister (where the Minister is not the appropriate authority) recommends the appointment of the person to that position, and

(ii) the Government, having considered such recommendation, decides that such appointment would be in the public interest.

(2) Subject to subsection (4), unless an order is made under section 6, either generally or in respect of any position or class of position, this Act does not apply to a position where the appointment concerned—

(a) F7[…]

(b) is to a scheduled occupation to which subsection (3) relates,

(c) is of a superannuated person to an established position consequential on his or her being duly called upon, under section 11 of the Superannuation Act 1859, to serve again in the Civil Service, whether or not he or she is required to serve on trial under section 12 of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956,

(d) is to a position in which such person is required to serve on trial under section 11 of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956,

(e) is to a position under section 7 or 15 of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956,

(f) is to the position of an Appeal Commissioner under section 850 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997,

(g) is by way of employment of civilians by the Minister for Defence under section 30 of the Defence Act 1954,

(h) is to the position of a person designated by the Minister under section 23(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 for the purposes of section 23(1) of that Act.

(3) (a) Each of the occupations specified in Schedule 1 is, except where paragraph (b) applies, a scheduled occupation for the purposes of this Act.

(b) Paragraph (a) does not apply where the service to be rendered by the person to be appointed is to be established service.

(c) If any question arises as to whether a particular occupation is or is not a scheduled occupation, the question shall be decided by the Minister after consultation with the Commission.

(d) If any question arises as to whether an appointment to a scheduled occupation is or is not or was or was not an appointment to a position in the Civil Service, the question shall be decided by the Minister.

F8[(4) Nothing in this section shall be read as affecting—

(a) the application of section 34(1)(i) to appointments to which this section applies, or

(b) the operation of Part 7A.]

(5) Nothing in this Act shall be read as affecting section 13 of the British statute passed in the year 1854 and entitled “An Act to provide for the Establishment of a National Gallery of Paintings, Sculpture, and the Fine Arts, for the Care of a Public Library, and the Erection of a Public Museum, in Dublin”.