vat on catering provided in UK by RoI company

It depends!
Are the services B2B or B2C? B2C services cannot benefit from the Reverse Charge.

Place of supply is the UK regardless of whether supply is B2B or B2C. Notice 741A Section 9.1 states -

The place of supply of restaurant and catering services is where the services are physically carried out.

You are not answering the question posed Shaun.

The OP has concluded that the place of supply is the UK. The question is can the UK company reverse charge the services, or must the ROI company register in the UK.

Whether the supply is B2B or B2C is relevant for this purpose, as Les notes, as a B2C service cannot be reverse charged. The OP confirms that it is B2B, which seemed reasonably obvious but was not clear.

The answer then is in VATA 1994, section8(2).

For general rule B2B services, the reverse charge always applies. For other services the reverse charge applies only if the recipient of the services is registered for VAT in the UK.

So if the OP's client is UK VAT registered the reverse charge applies. Otherwise the ROI company must register for VAT in the UK (zero threshold for NETPs).

Portia

I didn't misread the question at all! The place of supply is the UK and it is an excepted item to the general rule so the place of supply is always the UK regardless of whether it is a B2B or B2C.

Would be great if I could go into a restaurant in Germant and tell them I am not paying MwSt as they are providing me with a reverse charge catering service!!

So the Irish company needs to register as an NETP as all wedding companies and similar who hold hold events outside their country as the place of supply is where the catering service is performed.

The answer then is in Section 7(11) of the VAT Act 1994

And now you have got the answer wrong Shaun. We are told that the RoI company is providing catering services in the UK to a UK business.

That is a very different thing from you or I walking into a restaurant in Germany

As I have explained, if the UK business is VAT registered, then the reverse charge applies, by virtue of VATA 1994, section 8(2), and there is no need for the RoI company to register for UK VAT

I have no idea what section 7(11) has to do with it, since section 7 applies to supplies of goods, and we are considering a supply of services.