The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) issued a press release on 13 October 2026 indicating that the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment had informed the CCPC of the lapse of the legislation that had increased the Irish merger control notification thresholds from 1 July 2026. This was due to a procedural issue in the legislative approval process for the relevant Statutory Instrument (SI).
The effect is that the previous lower Irish merger control notification thresholds have been reinstated and are being applied with effect from 30 September 2026 to qualifying transactions (i.e. primarily acquisition of control of companies, the creation of certain JVs and asset acquisitions).
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment intends to take steps to reintroduce the higher thresholds in early January 2027.
The pre-1 July 2026 (and now current) Irish merger control notification thresholds are:
(a) where the undertakings concerned have an aggregate turnover in Ireland of at least €60 million; and
(b) where at least two of the undertakings have turnover in Ireland of at least €10 million each.
Consequences of this Irish merger control development
Since 30 September 2026, a qualifying transaction that has not yet been implemented needs to be assessed under the pre-1 July 2026 (now current) Irish merger control thresholds and, if those thresholds are met, the transaction must be notified to the CCPC for prior approval before it can proceed.
Qualifying transactions that were implemented on or after 30 September 2026 and that meet the pre-1 July 2026 (now current) thresholds should be notified to the CCPC. In this regard, the CCPC has stated that:
“The CCPC will not open any gun jumping investigations in relation to transactions that were inadvertently not notified as a result of the lapse of the SI”.
Affected transactions that have already been implemented would still require CCPC approval. Any such transactions that raise Irish merger control concerns for the CCPC may lead to various outcomes (e.g. prolonged time periods for CCPC approval as well as possibly interim measures and commitments).
In addition, parties to qualifying transactions being negotiated or agreed now will need to factor in the pre-1 July 2026 (now current) Irish merger control thresholds to determine whether an Irish merger control notification is required to the CCPC.
Transactions implemented between 1 July 2026 and 29 September 2026 under the higher Irish merger control thresholds (whether or not they needed CCPC approval) are not affected by this development.
A & L Goodbody’s EU, Competition and Procurement team is reviewing the wider effects of this development. If you have any questions, please contact the team.
