6.— (1) At any time during the period of 30 days referred to in section 9 or 12 of the Protection of Employment Act 1977 (as the case requires), a proposal to create collective redundancies may be referred to the Redundancy Panel—

(a) by employee representatives acting with the approval of the majority of those whom they represent who are affected by the redundancy proposal, or

(b) by the employer concerned,

by notice in writing addressed to the Chairman of the Panel in the care of the Secretary General and sent or delivered to the Secretary General at the principal office of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

(2) The Secretary General shall arrange for a reference under subsection (1) to be forwarded without delay to the Chairman of the Redundancy Panel, and the Panel shall—

(a) within 1 working day of receipt by the Chairman of the reference—

(i) inform the Minister of the fact, and

(ii) invite affected parties to make submissions to it in relation to the proposal,

and

(b) within 7 working days of receipt by the Chairman of the reference—

(i) give notice in writing to the Minister that either requests the Minister to seek an opinion from the Labour Court whether the proposal is a proposal to which this Part applies or states that the Panel is of the view that the conditions for the making of such a request that are set out in subsection (3) have not been satisfied, and

(ii) give a copy of that notice to the party from which the reference was received and other affected parties.

(3) The Redundancy Panel may not make a request to the Minister under subsection (2)(b)(i) unless—

(a) it appears to the Panel that the proposed collective redundancies are exceptional collective redundancies, and

(b) the Panel is satisfied that, in relation to the proposal, the party from which the reference was received—

(i) has unsuccessfully sought to resolve the matter through local engagement, that is, all or any of the following:

(I) established dispute-resolution procedures;

(II) procedures in place, or availed of by custom or usual practice, in the employment concerned;

(III) ordinary consultative procedures,

(ii) has acted reasonably and has not acted in a manner that, in the opinion of the Panel, has frustrated the possibility of agreement to restructuring, or other changes, necessary to secure the viability of the business of the employer and, as a consequence, the best possible levels of employment and conditions, and

(iii) has not had recourse to industrial action since the proposal was referred to the Panel.