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 notifiable
mergers under Part 3 of the Competition Act 2002 (as amended)
("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.