EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath has confirmed that the long awaited 28th Regime or ‘EU Inc’ proposals will be published next week. EU Inc. will be a new EU-wide legal framework designed to make it easier to set up, scale up and invest across the Single Market. It will provide an alternative to the complex and differing regulations faced by businesses that want to expand across different Member States. The ambition is that a company can be established using a fully digital platform within 48 hours, and it will be recognised throughout the European Union. There will be a common rulebook that will simplify business operations across the EU Single Market and boost competitiveness. With 450 million people, the Single Market is the world’s largest trading bloc. For Irish companies wishing to expand into other Member States, this legislation will reduce the burdensome administration costs and enable easier access to the European Market. Commissioner McGrath has set four distinct objectives from these proposals: The ability to register and establish a company cheaper, faster and digitally that is recognised in each Member State; EU Inc will provide for adaptable, flexible and future-ready governance tools; Companies will find it easier to attract and retain talent; Access to investment will be boosted. In September last year, Chartered Accountants Ireland responded to a call for evidence from the Commission on the 28th Regime. There will be a further public consultation on these proposals once they are announced and Chartered Accountants Ireland will engage in that process to ensure the final proposals adopted by the EU will fulfil the ambitions and objectives set out previously. The proposals are set to be launched next week, and the Institute will keep you informed of developments.

Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation,  Jack Chambers TD, this week secured Government approval for the General Scheme of the long awaited Critical Infrastructure Bill.  The Bill, once enacted will allow Government, subject to Dáil approval, to designate specific infrastructure projects as critical. This would then oblige all State bodies involved in the approval process to cooperate and coordinate with each other.  At its core this legislation is designed to speed up the approval process for major pieces of national infrastructure. For far too long critical infrastructure projects have been delayed.A delayed project imposes a cost on the entire economy and as delays mount the cost of the entire project escalates.  The progress on this Bill follows the establishment last week of a Regulatory Simplification Unit by Minister Chambers. 

Earlier this week, the Institute made a submission to the Public Consultation on Northern Ireland’s upcoming Budget 2026. Northern Ireland’s competitiveness depends on an economy that attracts investment, supports entrepreneurs, enables cross-border labour mobility, and expands workforce participation through affordable childcare. Chartered Accountants Ireland urged the Executive to prioritise:  Progress on entrepreneurial tax supports childcare investment, Removal of barriers to cross border working, The activation and use of devolved powers on corporation tax, and Childcare investment.  These actions would increase productivity, stimulate job creation, and strengthen long term fiscal sustainability. Better tax supports for entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs are the backbone of any economy, creating wealth and employment throughout the country.  Entrepreneurs need supports specifically designed for them. Urgent action is needed by the UK Government to rectify the divergence between Northern Ireland and Great Britain in the context of forthcoming changes to the UK’s Tax Advantaged Venture Capital Schemes. Tax supports for entrepreneurs should not be limited to high growth companies but should be expanded to other businesses with a growth mission. A wider review of how the UK tax system can better drive business growth and harness the entrepreneurial spirit of business owners is warranted. Cross-border and remote/hybrid working on the island of Ireland Embracing a more integrated approach to cross border working would offer the opportunity to drive growth, build a more stable future for the entire island, and improve outcomes for communities and citizens in both jurisdictions.  The current rules on cross-border and remote/hybrid working are negatively impacting the all-island labour market. We urged the Executive to work with Treasury and the Irish Government to minimise administrative responsibilities for both employers and employees when a frontier worker works from home a few days a week. The Institute also highlighted the disparity in tax treatment of pension contributions and retirement income. Reduction to the Corporate Tax rate A reduced corporate tax rate in Northern Ireland would attract investment, create well paid, secure jobs, and encourage innovation and entrepreneurialism. The Institute called on the Department of Finance and the Department for the Economy to fund an economic analysis to assess the various impacts of a reduced corporate tax rate in Northern Ireland.  We also called on the Executive to urgently invest in and reform Invest NI to enable the agency to establish critical relationships in major companies and to adequately sell Northern Ireland as a destination for investment. Affordable childcare Affordable and available childcare can boost labour market participation and increase economic productivity. In our most recent research 51% of respondents in Northern Ireland confirmed they had either reduced their working hours or requested to work flexible hours because of childcare pressures. We called on the Executive and the Assembly to prioritise childcare investment in the upcoming Budget.  We welcomed the publication of the draft Early Learning and Childcare Strategy and encourage the Executive to implement the measures in it subject to budgetary constraints. 

Last week the Institute responded to the HM Treasury ‘Call for Evidence: Tax Supports for Entrepreneurs’, which was launched on Autumn Budget Day last November. We thank members for their feedback on this important issue. In our submission, the Institute highlights how the draft Finance (No. 2) Bill clauses implementing the Autumn Budget 2025 changes to the various limits for several of the UK’s tax advantaged venture capital schemes would exclude specified Northern Ireland (NI) companies due to EU State Aid rules. The submission also highlights that there is a need for a wider review of how the UK tax system could better support all entrepreneurs, and not just those investing in high growth companies. A specified NI company is currently defined in the Finance (No. 2) Bill as a company that has its registered office in NI which carries on a trade involving a trade in goods, or the generation, transmission, distribution, supply, wholesale trade, or cross-border exchange of electricity. As a result, these NI companies will be unable to benefit from the increased scheme limits from April 2026. This divergence in UK tax policy means that companies in NI who are excluded are being disadvantaged when seeking external finance compared to their competitors across the remainder of the UK for no objective reason other than their location. To level the playing field, the Government needs to take the necessary steps to resolve this issue and enable the April 2026 changes to apply to all companies in NI via discussions through the existing UK-EU structures which underpin the Windsor Framework, followed by an application for State Aid approval.

Minister Jack Chambers has announced that a new Regulatory Simplification Unit has been set up to support faster delivery of critical infrastructure projects. It comes after the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce found that the pre-planning stage for major infrastructure projects is taking too long.  As part of a roundtable event on the NDP, that the Institute held with members last year, the issue of bottlenecks in the planning of infrastructure projects was discussed. It is encouraging to see items from the Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan implemented in the first quarter of 2026 – this prioritisation reflects urgency, which is extremely welcome.   The new Regulatory Simplification Unit will: Conduct a risk-based review of the current regulatory landscape. This will involve analysing and mapping existing processes and conducting workshops with the bodies involved in consenting, permitting and licensing to identify and remove bottlenecks.  Identify opportunities to enhance cooperation and streamline processes for more effective delivery of the National Development Plan; and  Focus on simplifying and improving the complex consenting, permitting and licensing systems across critical infrastructure sectors that support housing delivery – energy, transport and water infrastructure.  The establishment of the Unit marks the commencement of Action 9 of the Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan, which aims to support the simplification of overlapping and unduly complex regulatory frameworks.    

Research carried out by Amárach research on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment has found that more than four in five businesses (85 percent) say sustainability is important to the day-to-day running of their business. The findings of the second phase of SME Sustainability Research – Wave 2 were announced by the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke TD and are in line with the previous year’s findings. Read more. The survey of 344 SMEs shows that two in five had taken steps such as insulating their buildings or changing their windows in the past two years to improve their energy efficiency. Other findings were that ‘making a positive difference’ (35 percent) and saving money (34 percent) were the top motivations for businesses in becoming sustainable. Just over a quarter of business say that climate change is currently affecting their operations, rising significantly among larger firms and those operating for more than 20 years. Among affected businesses, adverse weather is now the dominant impact, reflecting the growing reality of extreme weather events. Most sustainability action is concentrated in practical, cost-effective areas: waste reduction (49%), energy efficiency (44%), and renewable energy adoption (33%) remain the most common measures adopted by businesses. The main barrier for organisations to act more sustainably remained upfront investment costs (22%), although at a lower rate compared to 2024. Commenting Minister Burke said by doing so these businesses would also be cutting their energy costs and would become more competitive, and urged SMEs to avail of the Local Enterprise Offices’ Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG) and the SEAI’s Building Energy Upgrade Scheme (BEUS) to buy energy efficient equipment and to retrofit their buildings. In 2025, 681 small business were approved for the EEG at estimated value of €5.7 million, while 186 BEUS grants with an estimated value of €3.36 million were approved. Minister Burke also advised businesses to use the Government’s free toolkit - ClimateToolkit4Business.gov.ie – to measure their carbon emissions, as by estimating their environmental impact, SMEs can start to tackle it. The ClimateToolkit4Business.gov.ie is a government initiative designed to help business cut carbon emissions and energy costs. It is a joint initiative of the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE). This year’s survey also included questions on the potential of the circular economy to Irish businesses, with Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail and Circular Economy Alan Dillon TD pointing to the value businesses are seeing in re-using, recycling and minimising waste. The Government of Ireland has this week launched Ireland’s Circular Economy Strategy 2026-2028, setting out the national plan to accelerate Ireland’s transition from a linear ‘take make waste’ model to a circular, sustainable economy. Commenting Susan Rossney, Sustainability Advocacy Manager with Chartered Accountants Ireland said: “We welcome the findings of this research that sustainability is important to 85% of the businesses surveyed. SMEs are the backbone of Ireland’s economy, accounting for over 99% of all businesses and employing a significant portion of the workforce. With their size and agility, they are uniquely positioned to innovate and implement sustainable practices quickly. But they face challenges in what can be a complex and potentially resource-intensive transition. Without coordinated support, many SMEs risk being left behind. Considering their prominence in the business landscape of the region, this in turn undermines regional efforts to meet climate and biodiversity targets.”  

It has been a busy week of commentary on savings and investments. An Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris, spoke about how he wants to help people get the most out of their money. On a Leaders interview with RTÉ, he outlined that he will bring a strategy to government setting out its plan for a Savings and Investment Scheme to bring Ireland in line with many of our European colleagues.   He outlined that he plans to: Make saving and investing more rewarding and accessible for ordinary families, not just the wealthy. Bring Ireland closer in line with European peers who have structures that help people make their money work harder and better for them. Reduce barriers like outdated rules that currently act as a drag on long-term personal investment.  The Tánaiste also commented outside the meeting of Finance Ministers in Brussels that “There is a €170 billion on deposit today, we need to make that money work – not just for our country, not just for the economy, but for our SMEs…I’m thinking of the next generation of people in Ireland and how this could help with their own personal economic resilience…At the moment they are locked out of any meaningful participation in the investment scenario in Ireland.”  Last week we updated you on our advocacy in this area and we wrote to Minister Harris, with recommendations to implement changes to Ireland’s savings and investments ecosystem including: Abolish the deemed disposal rule Reduce the tax rate on investment funds  Introduce loss relief on disposals of units in a fund at a loss Introduce a Savings and Investment Account  Prioritise financial literacy   In our letter, we outlined that increasing retail investment is not only beneficial to households and workers but also to the wider economy.  Whether it is improving the funding environment for growing innovative companies or increasing investment opportunities in infrastructure, the possibilities are considerable if Ireland gets this right.    On Budget day, it was announced that a road map would be published in the first quarter of 2026 outlining how the government plans to implement the recommendations in the Funds 2030 report. We will hopefully see the details of the Minister’s plans for savings and investments outlined in the roadmap and for it to be published in the coming weeks. We look forward to engaging with Government in this area – whether via a forum or consultation process. We will represent members views and keep members updated in this area of important work.  

Last Monday, Chartered Accountants Ireland and the Ulster Society were pleased to meet with representatives from the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and the Confederation of British Industry Northern Ireland to discuss potential ways forward in the ongoing campaign to reduce the corporation tax rate in Northern Ireland. The meeting was very informative and productive and each of the organisations agreed that Northern Ireland needs a coherent, long term industrial policy that attracts investment, creates secure, well paid jobs and fosters innovation. There was also agreement on the end goal of reducing the corporation tax rate in Northern Ireland. The key issues and Institute stance One of the main issues discussed was the need for an economic assessment of the impact of reducing the corporate tax rate on employment, earnings and investment. The 2021 ESRI research 'Enhancing Attractiveness of the Island of Ireland to High-Value Foreign Direct Investment' shows that a reduction in the rate of corporate tax to 15% would yield an annual increase of 7.5% in high-value Foreign Direct Investment in Northern Ireland. One of the main issues that remains is the potential impact on the block grant that Northern Ireland receives every year. The Institute outlined various measures that can be availed of to overcome this issue, most notably the use of a low interest loan from Westminster to manage the initial drop in corporate tax revenue that would arise immediately after the rate reduction.  Our progress to date and next steps  This meeting was an important step in achieving a united approach across the business community in Northern Ireland. Work will continue to garner cross-party consensus on reducing the corporate tax rate in Northern Ireland which will be critical when the campaign is taken to Westminster. This point was highlighted during the Institute's recent appearance before the joint Economy and Finance Committee’s in Stormont earlier this month. As outlined previously, in November 2025, the Institute wrote specifically to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on this issue. In this letter, we highlighted that the ultimate aim of a lower rate is for it to become self-funding in the longer term, but that it would necessitate a replacement loan at a low interest rate from HM Treasury to fund the necessary block grant reduction. Last year the Institute published its position paper ‘Enhancing Our Competitiveness: The case for a reduced rate of corporation tax in Northern Ireland’.   

This week Chartered Accountants Ireland represented members in attending the Cost of Business Advisory Forum run by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. The meeting follows the Institute’s submission recently where the focus was on reporting and compliance burdens that have been placed on businesses. The meeting forms part of the Institute’s ongoing campaign to remove the real time reporting obligation under Revenue’s Enhanced Reporting Requirements. From the outset and in response to our engagement with members on this matter, the Institute has been very clear that this obligation has placed a significant burden on businesses and employers and should be removed. The Institute once again argued that to date no reason has been offered as to why non-taxable items needed to be reported in real time. There has never been an adequate analysis on the benefits in terms of receiving this information in real time versus the compliance burden placed on businesses. The Institute will continue to campaign for the removal of the real time reporting element of the Enhanced Reporting Requirements. On the wider issue of simplification, the Institute argued that there was a need for a cross-Government approach in Ireland to reduce complexity and the regulatory burden on businesses and that this requires political will.  The Enhanced SME test is designed to sense check every proposal coming from Government to see if it is placing an undue and disproportionate burden on SMEs. Yet there is concern that this test is not being applied and the Institute outlined some key examples where this has been the case. From a European perspective, the Institute urged the Government to get behind the European Commission’s simplification agenda and to use its Presidency of the Council of the European Union to advance important files like the Digital Omnibus, the Tax Omnibus, the Savings and Investment Union and the 28th Regime. Following this meeting, the Institute will continue to contribute to the Forum with the aim of completing a comprehensive report on business costs with important and achievable recommendations for Government. Previous representations on this matter include: A 2023 CCAB-I submission on the proposed approach to ERR for employers A 2023 letter to the then Minister for Finance on the matter CCAB-I's Pre-Budget Submission 2025 included proposals relating to ERR CCAB-I's Pre-Budget Submission 2026 reiterated proposals 2026 Annual Dinner Invitation letter to Minister for Finance