Last week the European Court of Justice (the CJEU) delivered a significant judgment that all employers need to be aware of. In short, the CJEU held that employers must have a suitable system in place to ensure they are recording employees' daily and weekly working hours. As Ireland's working time legislation already requires employers to keep such records, this case may not have the...
EmploymentIn Ocean Point Development Company Ltd. (in receivership) v. Patterson Bannon Architects Ltd & ors [2019] IEHC 311 the High Court held that a dispute between property development company and a construction company was a matter for arbitration and not for the High Court where both parties had agreed to be bound by an arbitration clause in their contract. This was despite a previous summary judg...
DisputesIn December 2018 the Central Bank published a consultation exercise on revised AML/CTF guidelines (the Guidelines) for the financial sector. The Guidelines set out the expectations of the Central Bank regarding the factors that firms should take into account when identifying, assessing and managing ML/TF risks. The consultation exercise ended on 5 April 2019. Submissions on the draft Guideli...
In Kelland Homes Ltd v Ballytherm Ltd [2019] IEHC 2019, the third named defendant, Covestro BV, failed to discharge the onus of proving that the dominant purpose of a series of eight emails was for apprehended litigation, and their claim of litigation privilege failed. The Plaintiff, a developer, had used insulation that was manufactured using a pre-mixed foam supplied by Covestro in the cons...
DisputesThe role of the judge or jury in a defamation case is to determine how the ordinary reasonable reader understands alleged defamatory material. In the case of Stocker v Stocker (2019) UKSC 17 examines how it applies to social media and provides guidance for analysing the meaning of words published on digital platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Litigation & Dispute Resolution BelfastIn Camiveo Ltd v. Dunnes Stores, the Court of Appeal upheld a finding of the High Court that Dunnes Stores were in breach of the planning permission for Edward Square Shopping Centre in Galway by permanently closing doors that facilitated a pedestrian link between that premises and Eyre Square Shopping Centre. It found that the closure of the doors constituted a breach of covenants in the lease...
DisputesThe Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles Act 2015 (Act) provides for the re-domiciliation of non-Irish corporate funds into Ireland as ICAVs. The Act states that a migrating body may apply to the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) to be registered as an ICAV by way of continuation.
Asset Management & Investment FundsMental health is one of the main causes of absence from work, with 'work-related stress' being cited as the most common mental health condition causing absence. A recent study found that Northern Ireland is the UK region with the highest level of employees who have identified feeling stressed at work (85%). It is critical for businesses to ensure they meet their legal obligations and duties to...
Belfast
An overview of the fintech landscape in Ireland
Client TechOur recent update outlined the Government's proposals to introduce two weeks paid parental leave from November 2019 (via its Parental Leave and Benefit Bill 2019). Last week Ireland took another step forward in enhancing parental leave entitlements through the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017 (the Bill). What's new? The Bill, along with some technical amendments, was passed by the Seanad...
EmploymentDomestic News - The Department of Finance launched the new strategy "Ireland for Finance" applicable to the international financial services sector. Amongst other updates, the CBI published a template Key Facts Document for Benchmark Administrator Applications and noted its intention to publish guidance on this later on in the year. EU News - there were also many significant developments, inclu...
Financial RegulationDomestic News - The CBI published its Insurance Quarterly Newsletter. European News - the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) consulted on corrections and amendments to the implementing standards on reporting and disclosure, held a workshop on cyber insurance, published a summary of its fourth InsurTech Roundtable, published its 2018 insurance stress test recommendati...
Financial Regulation
