Looking Ahead: Irish Developments

IRISH LEGISLATION

Dáil Éireann resumed on 18 September 2024, with both the Companies Act (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Bill and the Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill beginning their progress through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

As a reminder, among other matters the Companies Act (Corporate Governance, Enforcement and Regulatory Provisions) Bill would place the so-called ‘interim fix’ for the execution of documents by a company under seal, previously available between August 2020 and December 2022 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), on a permanent footing from later this year once the Bill completes its passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas. For more information, read our insights here: Execution of Documents under Seal: Update and for more detail on the wider aspects of the Bill, read our Corporate Group’s insights here: Draft Legislation to Amend the Companies Act 2014 Published.

The Finance (Provision of Access to Cash Infrastructure) Bill is a key deliverable arising from recommendations made in the November 2022 Retail Banking Review Report, with questions on cash access and cash acceptance also forming part of the Department of Finance’s National Payments Strategy: Public Consultation in December 2023 (read our insights on that consultation here: National Payments Strategy: Department of Finance consults on its plans). For more information on the Access to Cash Bill, read our insights here: Access to Cash Bill published.

We still await confirmation on whether amendments will be proposed to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill to address an issue that arose earlier this year. The Ombudsman signalled his understanding that his remit doesn’t extend to dealing with complaints regarding how a regulated credit servicing firm dealt with a customer’s standard financial statement under the Central Bank’s Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears between 2015 and 2019.

It is likely to be late Q4 2024 / early Q1 2025 before we see the Bill arising from the publication, by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, of the General Scheme of the Registration of Limited Partnerships and Business Names Bill 2024 in late July 2024, setting out proposals to reform the Limited Partnerships Act 1907. The key aspects of the General Scheme are summarised in our recent insights: Limited Partnerships: Proposals for reform published.

Purchasers of buy-to-let (BTL) properties, and their funders, are awaiting an update on the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2024 which would be relevant where tenancies of more than 6 months are to be terminated on a sale of a residential property, and not where a residential property will be sold with tenants in situ. The Bill proposes that, subject to some exceptions, where a notice of termination is given to a tenant based on the landlord’s intention to sell the dwelling in which the tenant resides, the landlord would be required to serve a notice inviting the tenant to make a bid on the dwelling within 90 days. The landlord would not be permitted to sell the property during that 90-day period, other than to the tenant or to an approved housing body or the Housing Agency (if either was purchasing the property with a view to letting the tenant remain in the property). If the landlord put the property on the open market after that 90-day period, the landlord would also be required to invite the tenant to make a further bid if the highest offer received by the landlord from a third party was less than or equal to the tenant’s highest offer. The tenant would have 10 days to match or exceed that highest bid, and the landlord would be obliged to accept the tenant’s bid if it matched or exceeded that highest bid. Timing for that Bill remains to be confirmed.

The European Union (Insurance Distribution) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will come into force on 9 October 2024. These regulations will increase the minimum amount of ring-fenced professional indemnity insurance required to be held by Irish insurance intermediaries under Regulation 21 of the European Union (Insurance Distribution) Regulations 2018 to not less than €1,564,610 per claim and €2,315,610 in aggregate per year for all claims.