1 Relevant Authorities and Legislation
1.1 Who is/are the relevant merger
authority(ies)?
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
("CCPC") is responsible for the
promotion and enforcement of competition law in Ireland. The CCPC
was established on 31 October 2014, when the functions of the
Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency were
amalgamated into a single agency.
The CCPC has sole responsibility for investigating reportable
mergers under Part 3 of the Competition Act 2002 (as amended) (the
"Competition Act"). In addition to being
subject to the CCPC process, media mergers (as defined in the
Competition Act) are subject to a separate process, involving the
Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment
("Minister for Communications"). That
process is described in more detail in response to question 2.7
below.