Ireland: Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment

Ireland has emerged as Europe's leading destination for AI and technology investment, yet a significant readiness gap is emerging across Irish businesses. The third William Fry Technology Report reveals that while 80% of large firms have invested in AI, 70% of businesses overall have yet to do so, and only 11% of large businesses report achieving positive returns on their AI investments.

The European Union has reached a political agreement to amend the AI Act, introducing targeted changes aimed at simplifying compliance requirements for businesses while maintaining protective standards.

The European Commission has announced that its EU digital age verification app is technically ready for deployment, designed to protect children from harmful online content.

The Irish Government has unveiled its Summer 2026 Legislation Programme, introducing critical bills that will reshape the technology sector's regulatory landscape.

On 17 March 2026, the European Commission opened two new Connecting Europe Facility calls worth €200 million for projects in high-capacity networks, including submarine cables. These investments are in line with the goals of the EU Action Plan on Cable Security and are intended to help ensure secure and resilient connectivity across the EU and beyond.

The European Commission is proposing a Regulation for the Digital Networks Act to introduce a single, harmonised regulatory framework to replace the existing European Electronic Communications Code...

Following recent legislative developments in Australia, which introduced a ban on social media access for users under the age of sixteen from December 2025...

ComReg published a Universal Funding Update Information Notice. Pursuant to the European Union (Electronic Communications Code) Regulations 2022, a universal service provider ("USP") may submit a request for compensation.

As Ireland prepares to host the 2027 edition of the historic competition, stakeholders across the sports, sponsorship, and legal industries will be aware of several talking...

To celebrate World Consumer Rights Day, the William Fry Technology team prepared a three part series highlighting key EU consumer law developments set to shape consumer digital contracts in 2026.

On 26 February 2026, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport published the Media Regulation Bill (the “Bill”), which will implement the main provisions of EU Regulation 2024/1083, the European Media Freedom Act (“EMFA”) in Ireland. EMFA puts new rules in place to protect media pluralism and independence and increase co-operation between media regulators in the EU.

The European Commission (the “Commission”) has released its preliminary findings that TikTok is in breach of the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) as a result of the platform’s “addictive design”.