Protective Notice

I have recently been placed on Protective Notice by my employer. Does anyone know where I can out more information about what this means. I have checked the oasis.gov.ie website but have been unable to find anything of use. Some questions:

How long does protective notice last?
How do my rights as an employee change once I am placed on protective notice?
I am 9 months from retirement after over 40 years service, can I look for redundancy?
I am not aware of any reason why Protective Notice was issued (or have not been given any reason).

The DETE employment rights section is very good for information on these matters. If the website doesn't answer your questions then give them a call or an email directly and they'll probably be able to help:

www.entemp.ie