7.— (1) There shall stand established on the appointed day a Department of State to be known, in the Irish language, as an Roinn Caiteachais Phoiblí agus Athchóirithe or, in the English language, as the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

(2) The member of the Government who is in charge of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform—

(a) shall be known, in the Irish language, as an tAire Caiteachais Phoiblí agus Athchóirithe or, in the English language, as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and

(b) is, in this Act, referred to as the “Minister”.

(3) The Ministers and Secretaries Acts 1924 to 2007 and the Documentary Evidence Act 1925 shall apply to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the member of the Government who is in charge thereof as if that Department had been established by section 1 of the Act of 1924.

(4) For the purposes of section 6(1) of the Act of 1939 the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform shall be deemed to have been established immediately upon the passing of this Act, but any order under the said section 6(1), relating to that Department or that Minister of the Government, made before the appointed day shall not be expressed to come into operation on a day that is earlier than the appointed day.