Gemma Freeman

With restructuring plans in England increasing in popularity as a means of flexible business rescue and examinership in Ireland well established, all stakeholders need to engage with businesses in order to maintain a seat at the table. None more so than tax authorities, whose support or rejection of a business's plan could have a dramatic impact on the success of any rescue, as well as their ability to recover a proportion of tax due without losing out to other creditors.

The Irish High Court held this week1 that it has jurisdiction in a claim brought by a plaintiff against a UK-domiciled company for injuries which the plaintiff sustained on a cycling holiday organised by the defendant in Sri Lanka. This case provides an invaluable insight into how the Irish courts will treat consumer claims against foreign-domiciled defendants and is important know-how for any international company which sells its goods or services to Irish consumers.

Ireland is now an outlier in common law jurisdictions as third party litigation funding remains prohibited; although there is a proposal to allow it for arbitration. It has been several years since the Supreme Court called for legislative reform in relation to litigation funding in its landmark decision Persona Digital Telephony Limited and Another v. The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ireland and Others [2017] IESC27.