One Lawyer, Many Clients: Legal Representation of Parties with Conflicting Interests

Noreen Mackey, Legal Adviser, Ireland's Competition Authority, Ireland

This paper outlines a problem which the author has encountered in the course of her work as in-house legal adviser to the Irish Competition Authority. The role of the Competition Authority The Competition Authority (‘the Authority’) is the body responsible for enforcing both national and EU competition law in Ireland. It has investigative powers of summons and search, both of which it exercises on a regular basis. Ireland is one of the few European jurisdictions to have made infringements of its competition law criminal offences. In fact, in Ireland it is a criminal offence to infringe not only national, but also EU competition law.

Noreen Mackey is a barrister and has been the legal adviser to the Irish Competition Authority since 2002. She practiced at the Irish Bar from 1985-1993, following which she spent a three-year term working at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. She was one of the three Inspectors appointed by the Irish High Court in 1999 to investigate what became known as the Ansbacher Affair, one of the biggest tax frauds in Irish history.

The Irish Competition Authority is located in Dublin and is the State Body responsible for enforcing Irish and EU competition law in Ireland. It is also the Body responsible for reviewing proposed mergers above a certain financial threshold, and may prohibit a proposed merger if of the opinion that it will substantially lessen competition in an Irish market or markets if allowed to proceed.