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The Companies Bill was published on the 21st of December 2012. The Bill consolidates the numerous existing pieces of company law legislation which date from 1963 to 2012 into one single Act and introduces a number of reforms which are designed to make it easier to operate a company in Ireland. It constitutes a complete overhaul of Irish company law.

The Court of Justice has held that a sales consultant’s annual leave remuneration cannot be limited to their basic salary alone where such a worker is paid a basic salary and commission calculated on the basis of sales made by them. In such circumstances, that commission must also be included in the calculation of the employees annual leave entitlement so as not to deter an employee from taking annual leave

Hayes solicitors hosted a major conference on the need for radical reform of medical negligence litigation in Ireland.

On 11 April 2014, after a 40 day hearing, Mr Justice O’Neill dismissed the case of Mr Richard O’Callaghan, who alleged he had become paralysed for two years as a result of negligence on behalf of the Defendant, Mr Frank Dowling following a complex spinal surgery in April 2005.

On 1 April 2014 the Government published a White Paper on its proposed Universal Health Insurance policy. The White Paper states that access to health services will be based on need and not ability to pay.

The system of registration for septic tanks came into operation on 31 March 2012 following the enactment of the Water Service (Amendment) Act 2012. The purpose of the Act was to monitor waste water discharges from all households that are not connected to a public sewer network. The Act provided that all domestic waste water treatment systems should be registered by 1 February 2013 and failure to do so will have implications which are set out below. It is the responsibility of the owner of the waste treatment system to register their system.