Ep2 - Planning Ahead - The Planning And Development Act 2024 (Podcast)

The EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation has banned the destruction of unsold apparel and footwear from July 2026, forcing retailers to pivot from recycling and disposal to donation, resale and reuse strategies. With mandatory public reporting on unsold stock disposal and stricter policing of environmental marketing claims now in force, consumer-facing businesses across Ireland and the EU face a fundamental shift in how they manage inventory, report waste, and communicate sustainability creden

The European Commission has published its final Delegated Regulation establishing a common rating scheme for data centres, introducing electronic sustainability labels for facilities with at least 500 kW of IT power demand. The regulation incorporates significant changes from the draft version, particularly around nuclear energy consumption indicators, and will require data centre operators to understand complex conditionality requirements for energy procurement arrangements.

Climate related litigation continues to evolve, with several recent landmark decisions shaping the global legal landscape. In this update, we consider the broad trends in recent climate litigation...

Ireland's Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2026 introduces significant reforms to judicial review procedures and planning law, while new EU packaging regulations and climate action consultations signal major environmental policy shifts. Key court decisions address wind turbine noise nuisance and water quality obligations under EU directives.

This Q3 2026 edition highlights key legal and regulatory developments shaping Ireland's sustainability landscape, covering energy, infrastructure, and sustainable finance. The newsletter features insights from Climate Finance Week 2026 and explores legislative priorities for Europe's energy future during Ireland's EU Presidency.

Ireland moves forward with legislation to implement the EU Deforestation Regulation, introducing supply chain due diligence requirements for commodities like cattle, cocoa, coffee, and wood. The draft bill aims to ensure products placed on the Irish market are certified as deforestation-free, with enforcement beginning in December 2026.

The Council of the European Union (the “Council”) has approved the amended European Climate Law (the “European Climate Law”) and published Regulation (EU) 2026/667 (the “Regulation”) in respect of the 2040 intermediate climate target. The European Climate Law, with direct effect in Ireland, was first adopted in 2021 and established the EU’s long-term climate policy framework in line with the Paris Agreement.

The Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 (the “Bill”) completed Final Stages in the Dáil on 14 January 2026. Minister O’Brien, when securing cabinet approval to publish the Bill, pitched it as a game-changer for investment.

Ireland's Minister for Agriculture has published the draft General Scheme of the Deforestation and Forest Degradation Bill 2026, establishing the national enforcement framework for the EU Deforestation Regulation.

With the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (“CBAM”) now entering its operational period, the European Commission...

Ireland's Budget 2027, announced on 6 October 2026, introduces a €1.3 billion personal income tax package and projects a €9.5 billion surplus while implementing significant changes to capital gains tax...

The Government has published its Autumn 2026 Legislation Programme, identifying 32 bills for priority publication and 32 bills for priority drafting. This article explores a selection of measures likely to be of interest to businesses, spanning digital economy, strategic infrastructure, litigation reform, financial regulation, competition law, corporate structures, employment, pensions, and healthcare sectors.

Ireland has lifted its data centre connection moratorium and introduced a demanding new framework requiring developers to provide their own generation capacity, source 80% of electricity from new Irish renewables within six years, and meet strict grid stability requirements. The policy creates significant opportunities for developers who can navigate the complex intersection of grid connection, planning permission, and renewable energy procurement, though a pending legal challenge adds uncertainty to the la

Following concerns from Ireland's Transmission System Operator (EirGrid) as to overdemand and constraints on the electricity network...

On 18 September 2026, the European Banking Authority (the EBA) published its final report on the new “Guidelines on the sound management of third-party risk regarding non-ICT services (EBA/GL/2026/09)” (the 2026 Guidelines).

The European Commission has published comprehensive guidelines on AI transparency obligations under Article 50 of the EU AI Act, with enforcement beginning August 2, 2026. These guidelines establish how organizations must disclose AI systems, mark synthetic content, label deepfakes, and demonstrate compliance, with significant penalties for non-compliance reaching up to €15 million or 3% of global turnover.

The EU's Cyber Resilience Act introduces mandatory cybersecurity obligations for products with digital elements placed on the EU market. Understanding the five key manufacturer obligations—from secure-by-design requirements to incident reporting deadlines—is essential for compliance with this groundbreaking regulatory framework that elevates cybersecurity from best practice to legal requirement.

Spirit Airlines' proposed $10 million sale of a massive de-identified corporate dataset to Google in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings raises fundamental questions about whether operational business data can be treated as a realisable asset in insolvency. The transaction highlights the legal tension between preserving a dataset's commercial utility and ensuring individuals cannot be identified, particularly when the data maintains referential integrity across multiple systems.

The government yesterday published an updated policy statement on electricity interconnection. Interconnection of electricity supply between Ireland...

The European Commission has issued interpretive guidelines on Article 50 of the AI Act, clarifying transparency obligations for emotion recognition systems, biometric categorization, and deepfake content.