Ireland has adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.

Ireland has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Signatures.

The Communications Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007 empowers the Commission for Communications Regulation to set rules on application procedures for domain names. Currently, these rules require individuals and companies to prove a valid "connection to Ireland" to register an official ".ie" domain. This connection can be proved with an RBN/CRO number, VAT number, tax clearance certificate from Ireland's Revenue Commissioners, Irish passport, Irish/UK driver's licence showing an address in the island of Ireland, Irish/Northern Irish bank statement showing an address in the island of Ireland, College ID or Public Services Card. Evidence that the company will be relocating to Ireland in the near future is also accepted.

The Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU provides an updated framework aimed at encouraging online sales. The Directive has been implemented by the S.I. No. 484 European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013.

Ireland has not signed the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

Art. 17 of Directive 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive) mandates that providers of content-sharing services seek authorisation from rights holders and implement technical solutions to remove and prevent unauthorised uploads by their users (so-called upload filters), under penalty of losing their liability safe harbour. Further arrangements are envisaged for complaints and dispute resolution mechanisms. Such upload filters are reported to be a significant cost for online platforms. Graduated exemptions are expected to be put in place for new providers active in the EU for less than three years with a turnover under EUR 10 million and with fewer than five million users. The provision is subject to a challenge in the Court of Justice by Poland (C-401/19).
To implement Directive 2019/790, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has signed the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021, therefore making online content-sharing service providers partially liable for copyright violations on their platforms.

The EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) covers traditional broadcasting services as well as audiovisual media services provided on-demand, including via the Internet. Art. 13.1 provides for Member States to secure a minimum 30% share of European works in the catalogues as well as "ensuring prominence" of those works. "Prominence" involves promoting European works by facilitating access to such works using any appropriate means to ensure their prominence. The Directive has been implemented by Member States in different ways, ranging from very extensive and detailed measures to a mere reference to the general obligation to promote European works.
In Ireland, the EU Directive was transposed into domestic law through the amendment of the Broadcasting Act of March 2023 (Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022). According to Section 159B of the Act, a media service provider under the jurisdiction of the State must not offer an audiovisual on-demand media service if the share of European works in its catalogue is less than 30%. Ireland has not implemented financial contribution obligations to VOD service providers.

It is reported that passive sharing of telecom infrastructure is not mandated but is practised in both the mobile (based on commercial agreements) and fixed sectors.
Directive 2014/61/EU (Art. 3.2) establishes that Member States shall ensure that, upon written request of an undertaking providing or authorised to provide public communications networks, any network operator must meet all reasonable requests for access to its physical infrastructure under fair and reasonable terms and conditions, including price, with a view to deploying elements of high-speed electronic communications networks. Such written request shall specify the elements of the project for which the access is requested, including a specific time frame.

It is reported that Ireland does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, accounting separation is required by law.

It is reported that the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a comprehensive framework for data protection that applies to all EU Member States. Ireland implemented the GDPR in 2018 through the Data Protection Act.

Under the EU Directive on Data Retention, operators were required to retain certain categories of traffic and location data (excluding the content of those communications) for a period between six months and two years and to make them available, on request, to law enforcement authorities for the purposes of investigating, detecting and prosecuting serious crime and terrorism. On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared the Directive invalid. However, not all national laws that implemented the Directive have been overturned.
Despite the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), Ireland retains its data retention laws under the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011. This act details cases where personal data must be stored for a minimum of between 12 to 35 months, depending on the category (Section 3), to be made accessible to government authorities when requested (Section 6). The Act covers both telephony and mobile telephony data as well as Internet access, Internet e-mail and Internet telephony data.

Section 6 of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 allows members of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of chief superintendent, officers of the Permanent Defence Force not below the rank of colonel, and officers of the Revenue Commissioners not below the rank of principal officer to request the disclosure of data without a warrant in certain circumstances.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbour. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
Statutory Instrument No.68 implements Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive), establishing a conditional safe harbour for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Ireland. The conditions prohibit any infringements of third-party rights, including rights relating to copyright or intellectual property, rights to which the law of defamation and malicious falsehood relate and rights under contract (Art. 15). The safe harbour is further delimited to certain activities - conduit, batching and hosting (Arts. 16–18) - carried out by internet intermediaries, rather than categories of service providers.