Introduction On Monday this week the Government announced that Ireland will enter into Level 5 of the framework of restrictions provided for in the ‘Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19’. The new restrictions took effect from midnight last night and will remain in place for the next six weeks until 1 December […]

Across the EU a range of broadly applied legislative and non-legislative payment moratoria were made available to borrowers to address the extraordinary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, amongst other support measures. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has been monitoring the range of actions and notifications made to it by banks in order to support customers […]

The Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 (“the Act”) is now in force. It was introduced by the Irish Government in response to the challenges posed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to meet the immediate difficulties faced in civil and criminal proceedings. Chief among the provisions introduced by […]

As published in the Business Post, September 13th 2020. The current situation, where millions of employees are working from home, looks unlikely to change any time soon. So what steps can employers take to plan for this new long-term reality? What a difference a year makes. This time 12 months ago, employers and employees alike […]

COVID-19 has thrown into sharp relief how many areas of company law compliance depend on simple face-to-face human interactions. In this environment the Oireachtas has passed the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Covid-19) Act 2020 (the “Companies Act 2020”), which was commenced on 21st August. The Companies Act 2020 seeks to address many of the practical difficulties […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the film and television industries in Ireland. A number of film and television drama producers were forced to suspend production in March 2020, which in turn led to layoffs of many crew members and other personnel across various projects. While production continued in some sectors of […]

The long awaited Irish COVID Tracker App was launched by the Health Service Executive in conjunction with the Irish Department of Health on the 6 July 2020. At the time of writing, it is reported that there have been one million downloads of the app since it went live. We published an article on 24 June […]

Thankfully, Ireland is gradually emerging from quarantine. As of 29 June, the overwhelming majority of businesses in the state have returned to some approximation of normal work. Usefully, Screen Producers Ireland have prepared Guidance Notes for both film and TV drama and factual/entertainment programme–making. While various stakeholders, including government agencies, have already published a number […]

We will shortly find out if the Fine Gael–Fianna Fáil–Green Party coalition is going into government together. Obviously this is a historic development in Irish politics and no doubt all citizens await developments with great interest. Of particular relevance for employers is what the programme has to say on the subject of employment law. There […]

As we enter the later phases of re-opening our country, it is vital that employers continue to observe and follow public health advice. With the new rules and guidelines put in place, employers are faced with new and unprecedented challenges in how to reopen businesses safely and effectively. The purpose of this briefing note is […]