Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 February 2026
468. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether a cross-agency review involving the Workplace Relations Commission, the Corporate Enforcement Authority, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is underway in relation to an employment model, corporate governance, and franchise practices (details supplied). [10235/26]
View answer498. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether his Department has received complaints that a company (details supplied) has altered franchise terms or operational conditions without consultation or agreement from franchisees, and whether stronger franchise-law protections are required. [10229/26]
View answer499. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether franchise associations linked to a company (details supplied) are subject to any regulatory oversight; and whether concerns have been raised regarding their effectiveness in representing franchisee interests. [10230/26]
View answer502. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether concerns arising from a franchise model (details supplied) will be considered as part of any planned reform of franchise regulation, including statutory protections for franchisees and transparency obligations for franchisers. [10234/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 468, 498, 499 and 502 together.
Negotiations of franchise agreements are generally a private commercial matter between the franchisor and the franchisee. Competition law does not specify the conditions that franchisors must offer franchisees, nor does it set out how any changes to those agreements should be negotiated. Similarly, competition law does not govern what happens if a franchisor ceases trading or the implications of this for franchisees. The CCPC has confirmed it has not received any complaints with regard to the company's agreements with franchisees.
The European Commission has confirmed that it does not intend to propose specific legislation on franchising. A recent comprehensive consultation process conducted by the Commission, in which a broad community of stakeholders participated, identified no specific issues in respect of franchising. Accordingly, I have not requested any cross-agency review of franchise practices.
Ireland has a robust suite of employment rights legislation, which offers extensive protections to workers. The employment rights legislation under my Department’s remit is applied horizontally across all sectors and is not targeted at any particular sector. It is important to note that all employers, regardless of sector, are responsible for ensuring that their employees receive the protections afforded to them under employment legislation.
