The Irish Competition Law Forum

Stephen Abram is an Assistant Legal Director at the Competition and Markets Authority.  He is a member of the Phase 1 Legal Team and is advising on the PR24 water redeterminations.  More recently he assisted with updating the CMA’s mergers guidance to align with the ‘4Ps’.   Prior to joining the CMA Stephen practiced in London before joining a leading Irish law firm.

Darach Connolly leads DLA Piper’s EU and Irish competition and regulatory practice in Ireland. He has extensive experience advising international and domestic clients at EU and Irish level.

For competition rules, he advises on a wide range of issues including EU and national merger control, EU and Irish market investigations, cartel proceedings, distribution and licensing agreements, abuse of dominance, competition complaints and actions for damages. Most recently, Darach has led on the interaction between competition law and the sustainability agenda.

For regulatory issues, he has detailed experience covering public procurement and State aid rules as well in-depth sector knowledge in the areas of air transport, telecommunications and audio-visual services. In addition, in the Life Sciences sector, Darach has advised on complex medical product and device rules, COVID-19 related issues and healthcare services, including complaints to DG Sante.

Darach sits on the Committee of the Irish Society for European Law (ISEL) and is Recommended by Global Competition Review (GCR).

Kate is a partner in the Competition and Regulation Group.  Prior to joining Matheson, Kate worked at a Magic Circle law firm in London.

Kate’s competition practice involves advising clients on merger control, behavioural competition issues (including investigations of alleged collusion and abuse of dominance), State aid, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, Foreign Investment Screening regimes & public procurement competition issues.

Kate’s regulatory practice involves advising clients on compliance with telecommunications, broadcasting, digital markets, Life Sciences and postal regulation. Kate frequently advises clients on challenging decisions by sector regulators.

Kate has advised on numerous notable regulatory processes and court cases and so clients turn to Kate for expert advice on defending their interests and for practical solutions which achieve their commercial objectives.

Kate contributes articles to leading international legal publications and speaks regularly on competition and regulatory law issues.

Liam is a Partner in the Competition & Antitrust team with first-rate experience advising on all aspects of EU and Irish competition law, digital regulation and the incoming Irish foreign investment screening regime. Liam specialises in merger control, cartels, abuse of dominance, competition litigation and State aid.

Liam has considerable experience advising regarding complex merger control and foreign investment screening reviews at EU and national level, and multijurisdictional antitrust investigations concerning cartels and abuse of dominance. Liam also advises clients about complex competition litigation proceedings actions before the Irish courts.

He routinely advises on other behavioural and regulatory matters such as distribution systems, co-operation agreements, and joint ventures. Liam also has extensive experience advising on all aspects of EU State aid law.

Liam advises across a multitude of industries including technology; financial services; life sciences; consumer products; aviation; energy; and natural resources and media and telecommunications.

Alan McCarthy is a partner in A&L Goodbody's EU, Competition & Procurement group. Alan has represented clients in a range of sectors including telecommunications, aviation, banking, insurance, healthcare, food, beverages and petroleum before the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and the European Commission.

He specialises in advice on the competition law implications of mergers and joint ventures. He has advised on many of the recent mergers notified to the CCPC (including mergers that have been investigated in Phase 2 of the CCPC's merger procedures) and on mergers notified to the European Commission.

Alan also specialises in advice on competition law enforcement issues (such as leniency applications, dawn raids, compliance programmes and competition law litigation) as well as complaints to the CCPC and the European Commission. Alan also advises on EU competition law follow-on damages actions in the Irish Courts. He has significant sectoral regulatory experience, particularly in the telecommunications and energy sectors in Ireland. In addition, he advises on a wide range of other EU law matters such as State aid.

Alan provides extensive advice to a range of international clients (including in the US and UK) which are active in a range of sectors and regarding the application of their M&A transactions to the up-coming Irish foreign direct investment (FDI) screening rules (i.e. the Screening of Third Country Transactions Act 2023). This advice involves assessing the application of the Irish FDI screening rules and how clients can address their notification obligations under the rules.

Dan Gore is a Partner based in RBB’s London office with 20 years’ experience in competition economics consultancy. He is a co-author of The Economic Assessment of Mergers under European Competition Law (Cambridge University Press 2013, translated and republished by Law Press China 2017).

Dan has appeared in the Who’s Who Legal Future Leaders and Thought Leaders surveys of competition economists, which noted his “great depth of knowledge and strong grasp of the details” and “technical excellence” in merger analysis.

Dan’s practice focuses on merger assessment, and he has extensive experience in the analysis of horizontal, vertical and conglomerate mergers. He has also worked on numerous abuse of dominance cases, and investigations into concerted practices and information exchange.

Dan has worked on competition economics matters at the EU and European member state level, as well as assignments in the US, South Africa, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. He has worked across a wide range of sectors, including grocery retailing, oil and gas (upstream and downstream), life sciences, IT, healthcare, broadcasting, telecoms and financial services. Clients include Shell, Booking, Euro Garages/ ASDA, Sony, Discovery Communications and Bupa.

Dan has published articles in the European Competition Law Review, and the Competition Law Journal. He holds a BSc in economics from University College London, and an MSc in economics from the University of Warwick.

Diarmuid Ryan is a partner and global chair of our Antitrust & Competition Practice based in our London, Brussels and Dublin offices (and holds practising certificates in the UK, Belgium and Ireland).

Diarmuid specialises in all aspects of EU and UK competition and state aid law.

Matthew Sinclair-Thomson is a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Team based in London. He advises on a wide range of issues under the EU and UK competition law regimes, including merger control, foreign investment review, antitrust advisory work, cartel investigations and competition law compliance. Matthew frequently leads the coordination of merger control and foreign investment review processes for high-profile, cross-border transactions.

Matthew also has experience dealing with competition issues in regulated industries, in particular telecoms and financial services and Matthew regularly publishes UK competition law updates in the Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law.

Matthew has been recognised by Global Competition Review Foreign Investment Control in its “40 Under 40” list (2023) and named by Who’s Who Legal as a “Global Elite Thought Leader” for Competition Law (in December 2023) as well as a “Future Leader” (2021, 2022 and 2023) recognised for his “vast understanding of the M&A regulatory regimes in several jurisdictions,” his “thoughtful and commercial approach” and for being “a real pleasure to work alongside.”

Patrick is a partner in the Competition and Regulated Markets Group.  His practice covers EU and Irish competition law, foreign investment screening and sectoral regulation.

Patrick advises clients on a wide range of competition and regulatory matters, including merger control, foreign investment screening, investigations, State aid, competition law aspects of agreements, compliance programmes, and competition litigation.  He has significant experience advising clients in regulated industries, in particular in the telecoms, transport and energy sectors.  Prior to joining Arthur Cox in 2016, Patrick worked in the London and Brussels offices of Slaughter and May.

Patrick is recognised for his experience in competition law in Ireland by Chambers Europe and Legal 500 and has been named as a Thought Leader in Competition by Who’s Who Legal.

Before founding MON Legal Consulting in 2018, Maureen was a Partner at Mason Hayes & Curran, and prior to that, a Senior Associate at McCann FitzGerald, both leading commercial law firms in Dublin.  Maureen has also spent time on secondment as a legal advisor at ComReg, the Irish communications regulator. 

Maureen began her career in 2000 at the international law firm, Clifford Chance LLP, qualifying into the European and Competition Group in London and Brussels.  She was later a Senior Associate in the Antitrust Group at Allen & Overy LLP in London until 2008.

Maureen has over 20 years experience working in top tier law firms in Dublin, London and Brussels.  She has extensive experience in Irish, UK and European Merger Control, Antitrust, State Aid and Regulatory Law, with a particular focus on the Communications Sector. She regularly advises national and international clients across a broad spectrum of industries, as well as national and European regulators.

Maureen’s career has seen her involved in many high profile competition and sector investigations before the European Commission and national regulatory authorities in Ireland, the UK and Europe, as well as significant litigation before the European General Court.

Maureen’s undergraduate degree is in Business and Law, from University College Dublin.  She holds a Masters of European Law from the prestigious College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium.  Maureen has continued her academic interest in European law through her long standing involvement in the Irish Society for European Law.  She is a Vice-President of that organisation.

India is a senior associate in our Disputes team, with extensive competition litigation and collective actions experience. India has experience of acting for both claimants and defendants in cartel damages actions and abuse of dominance claims, involving follow-on and standalone elements. 

Laura joined McCann FitzGerald in July 2011 and has been a Partner in our Antitrust and Competition practice since May 2019. She has broad experience across all areas in competition and antitrust law including merger control, abuse of dominance issues, horizontal and vertical agreements, Irish and EU competition law investigations, State aid and telecoms. Laura was based in our Brussels office for over four years and is acutely aware of European competition law developments. She also has an important network of European officials and competition lawyers. Laura was educated in NUI Galway and Oxford University.