9A.— (1) Notwithstanding section 6D of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, where a fixed-term employee has entered into a fixed-term contract with an employer which provides for a probationary period, the length of such probationary period shall be proportionate to the expected duration of the fixed-term contract and the nature of the work.

(2) Where an employer proposes to renew a fixed-term contract for the same functions and tasks, the fixed-term contract shall not be subject to a new probationary period.

(3) A word or expression that is used in this section that is also used in Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019¹⁰ on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in this section that it has in that Directive.]