OP - go get proper advice. Neither you nor anyone else has mentioned business property relief or the applicable CAT group threshold. It is possible that you could receive business assets worth in excess of €2m without owing a penny in CAT.
Ircoha- you are making a lot of assumptions above. Including that the OP "shouted" at Bronte. While she has a heap of posts to be fair she is always quick to state she isn't an accountant/ tax specialist (and equally quick to chide in a lot of cases).
Bronte - what do you mean "Why would he want to do this"?. Not that it's relevant to the OP's question but the country (and the world) is littered with family businesses that have continued through generations. So I'd suspect he wants to secure the succession of the business to the child who is best qualified / most capable / most interested in it / has worked in it and contributed most to its success...
This is nothing new and provisions like CGT retirement relief and CAT business property relief Facilitate orderly succession planning. Specifically so that people aren't hanging onto the ownership of the family business until they're old and infirm, with a child / children having worked half their life in the business on the explicit promise of succeeding to it. There's a whole body of academic research into the psychology and economics of succession planning. But I suppose the short answer to your question is, None of your business!