Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission publishes its 2025 Annual Report

On 14 July 2026, Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CPPC) published its Annual Report for 2025. The report highlights an increase in the CCPC's enforcement activity, investigative powers and organisational capacity, signalling the CCPC’s intention have a more active competition law landscape for businesses operating in Ireland.

Key facts and figures from the competition law perspective include:

• five school bus and taxi operators convicted in a bid rigging cartel case brought by Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions in the Irish Central Criminal Court following a CCPC investigation
• six investigations "opened by the [CCPC] Cartels Division into suspected cartel conduct, for example, price fixing, market-sharing or bid-rigging, and one related to suspected gun-jumping"
• “nine unannounced searches (dawn raids), at seven businesses and two residential properties, as part of ongoing [ed. alleged] cartel-related investigations” and “an unannounced search (dawn raid) at the premises of an Irish-based distributor of home appliances, as part of an ongoing investigation into suspected resale price maintenance" (proving that RPM is still a live issue)
• one CCPC/German Competition Authority (i.e. the Bundeskartellamt) engagement on an unannounced search at the premises of a manufacturer in Germany
• 90 merger notifications, 63.7% being simplified, 29 requirements for information (in c.32 cases), eight media notifications, five conditional clearances, five Phase 2s and one merger assessment
• one Competition Enforcement & Mergers Division divided into two: the Mergers Division and Antitrust Division
• one Chief Adjudication Officer appointed
• 17 Adjudication Officers appointed
• one New Surveillance Unit using the CCPC's surveillance powers
• four witness summonses and three formal requests for information on businesses in administrative competition cases
• six High Court applications under s.33 of the Competition Act 2002 on legal privilege
• 273 approved posts in the CCPC at the end of 2025 with 7% growth in staff numbers in 2025

The report reinforces the importance of robust competition law compliance, merger control planning and preparedness for regulatory investigations. A&L Goodbody’s EU, Competition & Procurement team advise businesses on competition compliance, merger control, investigations, dawn raids and regulatory engagement with the CCPC and have unrivalled experience and expertise.

For more information, please contact Dr. Vincent Power or any member of the EU, Competition & Procurement team.

Date published: 15 July 2026