7.— (1) The Minister may, either—

(a) within 7 working days of receiving a request from the Redundancy Panel under section 6, or

(b) subject to subsection (3), on the Minister’s own initiative, in the public interest,

request the Labour Court to issue an opinion whether collective redundancies proposed by an employer constitute exceptional collective redundancies.

(2) In subsection (1)(b), “ public interest ” includes—

(a) public order and the interests of national security,

(b) public health and safety,

(c) the need to protect the labour market, and

(d) the protection of statutory employment rights.

(3) The Minister may make a request under subsection (1)(b) only if—

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

(b) the relevant period specified in subsection (4) has not expired.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3)(b), the relevant period is—

(a) if the period of 30 days specified in section 9(3) of the Protection of Employment Act 1977 has not expired and a reference to the Redundancy Panel has not been made under section 6(1) — that period of 30 days,

(b) if a reference to the Redundancy Panel has been made under section 6(1) but the Panel has not made a request under section 6(2) — the period of 7 working days specified in section 6(2).