23.—Section 2 (2) of the Act of 1977 (which specifies dismissals in relation to which that Act does not apply) is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph (c) (inserted by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994) of the following:

F62[(d) dismissal where—

(i) the employee’s employer at the commencement of the employment informs the employee in writing that the employment will terminate on the return to work with that employer of an adopting parent who is absent from work in accordance with the Adoptive Leave Acts 1995 and 2005 during a period of adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave or a period of time off from work while attending certain pre-adoption classes or meetings, and

(ii) the dismissal of the employee duly occurs for the purpose of facilitating the return to work of the adopting parent.]