Business Law and Corporate Law

The Irish High Court has ruled that shareholders no longer have an automatic right to access a company's privileged legal advice, abolishing the shareholder rule that previously allowed such disclosure. This landmark decision aligns Irish law with recent developments in England, Wales, and Bermuda, fundamentally reshaping the relationship between corporate privilege and shareholder information rights.

Ireland's examinership process provides a unique corporate rescue mechanism for international restructuring, offering automatic EU recognition, worldwide creditor moratorium, and cross-class cram down capabilities. This comprehensive guide examines how non-Irish companies can leverage examinership for complex cross-border restructurings, featuring case studies of major transactions including Norwegian Air, Mallinckrodt plc, and Weatherford, with comparative analysis against UK and US restructuring framework

The European Commission has adopted two delegated acts as part of the CSRD simplification under the Omnibus I package...

The implementation of CRD VI introduces a new regulatory framework governing how non-EU credit institutions and undertakings can provide core banking services within the European Union. Ireland's transposition of Article 21c requirements on 10 July 2026 creates both opportunities and interpretive challenges for firms navigating deposit-taking, lending, and guarantee provision in the post-January 2027 landscape.

Rob Cain and Sarah Thompson examine the implications of Ireland's transposition of CRD VI Article 21c, focusing on cross-border lending challenges, reverse solicitation exemptions, and grandfathering provisions.

The Central Bank of Ireland has completed its review of delegation practices across fund management companies, examining how the sector's dramatic growth to €5.6 trillion in assets has impacted oversight and governance frameworks. With 9,000 authorized funds now supported by 121 FMCs, the regulator has identified both effective practices and areas requiring enhancement across five critical operational domains. FMCs must now benchmark their policies against these supervisory expectations and implement

Regulations introduced in 2025 impose new board gender balance obligations on many Irish companies listed on certain EU markets, with gender balance targets for both executive directors and non-executive directors (“NEDs”) to be achieved by 30 June 2026.

On 20 April 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland (Central Bank) published a feedback report on the review it carried out last year on a cohort of Irish fund management companies on board effectiveness through the lens...

The Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”) has published its findings from a review of board effectiveness through the lens of diversity and inclusion (“D&I”) in the fund management company (“FMC”) sector — the first standalone D&I review conducted in this sector. The Central Bank’s overall assessment is that, while some positive practices were identified, more work needs to be done to enhance board effectiveness through the lens of D&I, with issues identified in governance processes across all firms reviewed and varying levels of understanding of D&I leading to uneven embedding of D&I across those governance processes.

Matheson has contributed to The Global Legal Post's Law Over Borders Merger Control Law Guide, offering jurisdiction-specific insights into merger control regimes worldwide. Calum Warren and Simon Shinkwin provide a comprehensive overview of Ireland's merger control framework, covering everything from jurisdictional scope to enforcement mechanisms.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled on the extent of competition authorities' powers to seize business emails during antitrust investigations without prior judicial authorization. This landmark decision addresses fundamental questions about the balance between effective competition law enforcement and the protection of corporate communications under EU fundamental rights law.

This monthly legal update from William Fry LLP examines significant regulatory and legislative developments across Ireland's financial, environmental, and infrastructure sectors. From proposed reforms to limited partnership regimes and new home support provider regulations, to the transposition of EU directives on distance marketing and capital requirements, these articles analyze how recent policy changes will impact businesses, financial institutions, and service providers operating in Ireland.