2. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1977” means the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977;

“Act of 1994” means the Maternity Protection Act 1994;

“Act of 1995” means the Adoptive Leave Act 1995;

“Act of 2005” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005;

“Act of 2010” means the Adoption Act 2010;

“Act of 2015” means the Workplace Relations Act 2015;

“additional adoptive leave” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1995;

“additional maternity leave” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1994;

“adjudication officer” means a person appointed under section 40 of the Act of 2015;

F1[…]

“adoptive leave” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1995;

“birth certificate” means a document issued under section 13(4) of the Civil Registration Act 2004;

“certificate of placement” has the meaning assigned to it by section 13 of the Act of 1995;

“civil partner” shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“cohabitant” shall be construed in accordance with section 172(1) of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“contract of employment” means, subject to subsection (2) —

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person, who is carrying on the business of an employment agency, within the meaning of section 2 of the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012), and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for another person (whether or not that other person is a party to the contract),

whether the contract is express or implied and, if express, whether it is oral or in writing;

“date of confinement” shall be construed in accordance with section 51(1)(b) of the Act of 2005;

“day of placement” means the day on which a child who is, or is to be, adopted is placed physically in the care of F2[the qualifying adopter] with a view to the adoption of the child or, in the case of an intercountry adoption effected outside the State where the child has not previously been placed in the care of F2[the qualifying adopter], the day on which the child has been so placed following the adoption;

“declaration of eligibility and suitability” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2010;

“Director General” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2015;

F1[…]

“employee”, other than in section 29 , means a person of any age, who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment and includes a part-time employee and a fixed-term employee;

“employer” in relation to an employee—

(a) means the person with whom the employee has entered into or for whom the employee works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment, subject to the qualification that the person who under a contract of employment referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of contract of employment is liable to pay the remuneration of the individual concerned in respect of the work or service concerned shall be deemed to be the individual’s employer, and

(b) includes, where appropriate, the successor of the employer or an associated employer of the employer;

“enactment” has the same meaning as it has in the Interpretation Act 2005;

“expected week of confinement” has the meaning assigned to it by section 47(1)(a) of the Act of 2005;

“fixed-term employee” has the same meaning as it has in the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003;

“intercountry adoption effected outside the State” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2010;

“Labour Court” means the body established by section 10 of the Industrial Relations Act 1946;

“maternity leave” has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1994;

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality;

“part-time employee” has the same meaning as it has in Part 2 of the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001;

“paternity leave” has the meaning assigned to it by section 6(1);

F3["qualifying adopter", in relation to a child who is, or is to be adopted, means the qualifying adopter, within the meaning of the Act of 1995 (as amended by the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021), of the child and includes, for the purposes of this Act, a person who would be a qualifying adopter but for the fact that he or she is not an employee;]

“registered medical practitioner” has the same meaning as it has in the Medical Practitioners Act 2007;

F1[…]

“relevant evidence”, in relation to an employee, means a medical certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner;

“relevant parent”, in relation to a child, means a person (other than the mother of the child) who is—

F2[(a) in the case of a child who is, or is to be adopted, the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, as the case may be, of the qualifying adopter of the child,]

or

(b) in any other case—

(i) the father of the child,

(ii) the spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, as the case may be, of the mother of the child, or

(iii) a parent of the child under section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 where the child is a donor-conceived child within the meaning of Part 2 of that Act;

F1[…]

“surviving parent”, in relation to a child whose relevant parent has died, means—

(a) in the case of a child who is, or is to be, adopted, F2[the qualifying adopter] of the child, or

(b) in any other case, the mother of the child;

“transferred paternity leave” has the meaning assigned to it by section 15(1).

(2) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces) or otherwise as a civil servant, within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956, shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or Government, as the case may be, under a contract of service, and

(b) an officer or servant of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001, a harbour authority or the Health Service Executive or a member of staff of an education and training board shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority, Executive or board, as the case may be, under a contract of service.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, one employer shall be taken to be associated with another employer—

(a) if one is a body corporate of which the other (whether directly or indirectly) has control, or

(b) if both are bodies corporate of which a third person (whether directly or indirectly) has control.

(4) For the purposes of section 17 and Parts 3 and 4, a reference to paternity leave includes a reference to transferred paternity leave.

(5) A reference in this Act to a child who is, or is to be, adopted is a reference to a child who is, or is to be, the subject of—

(a) an adoption order within the meaning of the Act of 2010, or

(b) an intercountry adoption effected outside the State and recognised under that Act.