Procedure Notifiable transactions must be notified at least 10 days before closing. The Minister can issue a screening notice that suspends completion for (in- depth) review until a screening decision is issued. Reviews must be concluded within 90 days (which can be extended an additional 45 days) and should consider factors such as whether a party to the transaction is controlled by a government of a third country, or whether the transaction would result in persons acquiring access to information, data, systems, technologies or assets that are of general importance to the security or public order of Ireland. Though all parties involved in a transaction are required to notify, the law allows for one party to provide consent to another party to notify the Minister on its behalf. If the Minister determines that a transaction would likely affect the public order or security of the country, the Minister may require the parties to, among other things, not complete the transaction, sell or divest, cease a certain practice, comply with national security risk mitigation conditions or abandon the transaction. Adverse decisions by the Minister may be appealed in writing within 30 days of receiving the notification of the screening decision. In 2025, the first operational year of the Irish FDI regime, if a decision to conduct a review was made, the review was concluded within 10 calendar days in two-thirds of cases. In-depth reviews took between 27 and 85 days with two- thirds of the screening decisions being rendered in less than 40 days. Failure to notify a notifiable transaction will result in an automatic finding that the transaction does affect, or is likely to affect, Ireland’s security or public order. Such a finding would enable the Minister to, among other things, order the parties to sell or divest assets and/or modify or cease a specific practice. Failure to notify and/ or providing false information on a notice is a criminal offense with penalties of imprisonment up to five years and a fine of up to €4 million. The Minister also has discretion to review non- notifiable transactions where the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe the transaction could or does affect public order or security;
and the transaction could or does result in a third country investor or connected person acquiring or changing the extent to which it has control of an Irish asset, control of or interest in an undertaking in Ireland, legal rights in relation to a person, asset or undertaking in Ireland, the ability to exercise effective participation in the management or control of an undertaking in Ireland, or the ability to exercise control over an undertaking in Ireland through a change in ownership or legal structure of that undertaking. The Minister may begin a review of a non-notified transaction (i.e., a notifiable transaction where the parties did not submit a notification) up to five years from the transaction’s completion date or six months from the date on which the Minister first becomes aware of the transaction, whichever is later. For non-notifiable transactions, the Minister has up to 15 months after the transaction is completed to commence a review. In 2025, no transaction was screened by the Minister using those “call-in” powers. First-Year Filing Data On May 25, 2026, the Department published the first Annual Report (Report) since the FDI Regime’s promulgation. In 2025, 102 deals were notified to the Irish authority. The Report indicates that 66 cases (65%) were not formally screened, given that the cases did not meet all criteria for mandatory screening; one application was rejected as incomplete; and one application was withdrawn. A screening notice followed by (in-depth) review was issued in 26 cases (25%), of which two were subject to mitigating measures. Those cases concerned the following sectors: seven cases energy, six cases each telecommunication and digital infrastructure, four cases health, and three cases pharmaceuticals. Most targets (18 cases) triggered the review due to their activities related to critical infrastructure, followed by critical technologies and dual use (four cases), supply chain needs (three cases) and access to sensitive information (one case). The large majority of foreign investors who underwent review were from the UK (10 cases) and the U.S. (nine cases), plus an additional two cases where the origin of the investor is reported as U.S./UK.
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FDI and National Security Review
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