"Given that Ireland is among the minority of EU member
states that does not currently conduct any screening of FDI,
primary legislation is required to close this regulatory
gap"
Head of EU, Competition and Regulatory,
Niall Collins authored an article, featured in the latest issue
of The In House Lawyer Magazine. In this Q&A form article Niall
touches on topics such as Irish merger control, innovative
developments in established sectors that the CCPC has had to
investigate, recent trends in competition enforcement and more.
Starting with Irish merger control, how would you sum up
activity in the past 12 months in Ireland?
Consistent with global M&A activity, 2021 was a busy year
for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) with
74 merger clearances. Banking and financial services attracted the
most significant merger reviews. This included the CCPC's
review of landmark transactions arising from KBC and Ulster
Bank's exit from the Irish retail
