EU and Competition
The Practice
Arthur Cox’s highly regarded EU and Competition Group’s core practice areas are European and Irish competition and merger control law, European State Aid law and regulatory law. The Group continues to be involved in the most high-profile merger control and competition law cases arising in Ireland.
We have been involved in over 60% of the cases in which the Irish Competition Authority has undertaken a Phase II investigation to date, and have acted in a number of ground-breaking cases, such as the first referral of a case from the European Commission to the Irish Competition Authority (Heineken/Scottish & Newcastle), the first appeal of an Irish Competition Authority decision before the Irish Courts (Kerry Group/Breeo Foods) and the first case involving a complex “warehousing” arrangement by the parties involved (NTL/UGC). Other recent high profile merger control cases in which the Group has been involved include: Aer Lingus/Ryanair, CRH/Ancon Group and Scottish & Southern Energy plc/Airtricity Holdings.
The Group has also been involved in the most high-profile competition law cases arising in Ireland such as the Competition Authority’s challenge to a Government-backed rationalisation of the beef processing sector (Competition Authority v BIDS) and civil actions for damages resulting from competition law infringements (Mars v BIDS).
The Group has also been advising the Irish Government on the competition and State Aid aspects of the Irish Bank Guarantee Scheme.
The Group currently consists of three partners, John Meade and Patrick O'Brien and Fiona McKeever, one associate, Richard Ryan, and a consultant, Joe Brosnan. John Meade has been Head of the Group since he joined Arthur Cox in 1990.
