IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Philip Tully, Emma Doherty, Geraldine Carr, Simon Shinkwin and Carlo Salizzo, Matheson LLP
9. Looking Forward 9.1 Upcoming Legal Reforms
Competition Law EU Foreign Direct Investment Screening Regulation As noted in 2. Restrictions on Foreign Invest- ments , Ireland has recently implemented its new FDI screening regime. While the final legislation and guidance offers much welcome clarification on the scope of the regime, as has always been the case, the Department’s actual enforcement approach in its administration of the regime will ultimately determine, as well as set the tone for, the scope and intensity of review of in-scope transactions. Parties and their advisers will therefore need to keep a watching brief on how the regime is administered as part of the overall analysis of the applicability of the regime. Employment Law Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 Ireland is introducing a system of automatic enrolment for retirement savings. Auto enrol - ment (AE) was implemented by the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024, which came into force in July 2024. The Auto- Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme will commence on 1 January 2026. AE will apply to all employees aged between 23 and 60, earning over EUR20,000 per annum and who are not members of qualifying occupational pension arrangements. Applying to annual earn - ings of up to EUR80,000, employers of in-scope employees will initially be required to make a contribution of 1.5% of an employee’s annual earnings, rising gradually to 6% by year ten of the system being in place. In the future, mini - mum standards will be introduced which must be met for a scheme to be deemed a qualifying occupational pension arrangement. The authors do not yet know what these standards will entail, but it seems likely that certain minimum levels
There have been a number of recent develop - ments in Irish and EU law, with certain legislative reforms expected in the near future. Corporate Law Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) The CSRD had to be transposed into domestic law by 6 July 2024 and requires in-scope com - panies to make ESG-related disclosures against common EU reporting standards. As currently in force, the CSRD applies to companies on a phased basis, with the first companies in scope publishing their reports this year in respect of 2024 sustainability information. The majority of companies subject to the CSRD are due to pub - lish their first report in 2026 in respect of 2025 information. On 26 February 2025, the European Commis - sion announced the first “omnibus simplification package”, which proposes to simplify certain EU ESG laws, including the CSRD. The omni - bus proposals would significantly scale back the scope of the CSRD and the reporting obligations for in-scope companies by, among other things, taking companies/groups with less than 1,000 employees out of scope of mandatory reporting requirements. As part of the omnibus package, on 17 April 2025, the “Stop the Clock” directive came into effect. The directive requires EU member states to delay the application of the CSRD to most companies by two years. Member states have until 31 December 2025 to transpose the delay into national law.
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