Irish law includes a provision for "fair dealing," similar to that used by other countries.
[1] Until 93/98/EEC the term of copyright protection on a work was the life of the author and 50 years after death.
Sound recordings, and broadcast and cable programmes, are protected for fifty years from first transmission.
Any work created by any officer or employee of the Irish Government or State is protected by Government copyright, which is regulated somewhat differently from general Irish copyright law, and which lasts fifty years from the end of the year in which the work is created.
The position of State companies is not clear, so, for example, Ordnance Survey mapping up to the reconstitution of OSi as a state company is copyright for fifty years, while mapping published after that time may, or may not, be subject to a longer term.
Since 2005 Government organisations, local authorities and state-sponsored bodies are obliged by law to have a permissive reuse policy for copyrighted material under the Directive on the re-use of public sector information.