125.— (1) The Minister may, after consulting with the Garda Commissioner F182[and the Authority] and with the approval of the Government, make regulations—

(a) specifying the ranks that members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland must hold to be eligible for appointment under section 52 or 53 to specified ranks in the Garda Síochána and any experience that may be necessary or desirable for that appointment,

(b) providing for procedural matters relating to—

(i) appointments under sections 52 and 53 to ranks in the Garda Síochána, including, in relation to appointments under section 52, the conduct of competitions for vacancies in the ranks concerned, or

(ii) secondments to the Police Service of Northern Ireland under section 54.

(2) The Minister shall ensure that every regulation made under this section is laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as practicable after it is made.

(3) Either House of the Oireachtas may, by a resolution passed within 21 sitting days after the day on which the regulation is laid before it, annul the regulation.

(4) The annulment of a regulation under subsection (3) takes effect immediately on the passing of the resolution concerned, but does not affect the validity of anything done under the regulation before the passing of the resolution.

(5) The power to make regulations under this section is additional to the power to make regulations under sections 122 and 123 and is not to be taken to limit the power to make regulations under those sections in relation to members referred to in section 122(5)(b)(iii)or (iv).