Ireland - Enforcement of Money Judgments

Enforcement of foreign money judgments is a matter solely for the Courts of Ireland interpreting the law as passed by the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) or pursuant to established case law. Orders for the enforcement of foreign money Judgements are regularly issued by the Irish courts, and such a procedure is in no way unusual. It should be noted that the courts make Orders of Enforcement directing other agencies (such as the sheriff of a particular area) to undertake the actual enforcement on foot of those Orders.

The principles applicable to their enforcement will depend upon whether the judgment which a beneficiary seeks to enforce has been issued in a Member State of the European Union (in which case, depending upon the nature of the judgment in question, special provisions of European Union law apply), in a state which is a contracting party to the Brussels or Lugano Conventions, the Brussels Regulation, the Recast Brussels Regulation, the Uncontested Judgments Regulation, the Cross Border Payments Regulation or the Small Claims Regulation (each as defined below) (together “European Judgments”) (in which case the relevant convention/regulation will apply) or a state to which none of the above applies (in which case, the applicable principles are derived from Common Law rules).

B. Briefly describe recent illustrative attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful, to enforce a foreign money judgment in your country, particularly with regard to enforcement of any judgments from United States courts.

No recent cases have been found. However, U.S. money judgments will be enforced in Ireland pursuant to established common law principles. The most fundamental requirement is that one has to show that the U.S. Court must have been a court of competent jurisdiction in relation to the particular defendant according to Irish conflicts of laws rules, not simply according to the US Court’s own conflicts rules.