Posted By Tracey Kelly
There aren't many real differences in the content of the Regulations - they are mostly derived from the same EU Directives and best practice, anyway.
As a gross generalisation and simplification, the UK brings an EU Directive into law, with Guidelines and a handy acronym. A year or so later, Ireland brings in almost-identical regulations, with minor changes for local palates - and a different name. This isn't really surprising, given the relative sizes and budgets of the HSA and HSE.
Where there isn't clear guidance or standards within Ireland, you should use the British or other European standards (or even American in the case of some technical safety issues such as relief valve sizing).
An example would be the Seveso Regulations in Ireland, and the CoMAH Regulations in the UK. In the UK (as with about half of the EU member states) the CoMAH regulations are risk-based, whereas Ireland chose to go along the consequence-based route. However, you are still expected to be up to date with the HSE guidance and approaches to particular issues such as bund over-topping and Buncefield.
Also, sometimes Irish courts will look to British case law when considering new issues (such as stress), as their size tends to mean that problems are tackled in the UK before they become an issue here.
You really need to read the relevant Irish legislation to find out the detail and spot any particular differences (or vice versa). The Irish statute book
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/front.html is a good source of current Regulations and Acts, but it isn't always up to date. The HSA web site
http://www.HSA.ie is also useful. You need to be careful, though, as the regulations aren't always exact equivalents - e.g. the six-pack in the UK, and the General Application Regulations in Ireland, or CoSHH & DSEAR in the UK and the Chemical Agents Regulations / Biological Agents Regulations / Carcinogen Regulations in Ireland.
Another word of caution- where there is a difference between Scottish and English/Welsh Regulations(such as building standards), the Irish version will tend to be the same as the English version.
Which leads me on to the next caveat - Irish Law is similar to English Law, and not Scottish Law - worth remembering if you are used to the Scottish system.
My final word - remember that although there are many similarities, it's a different country, with different laws and attitudes and different ways of applying the same rules - although best practice remains best practice wherever you are.