Ireland: Third-Party Litigation Funding: Prohibition under Maintenance and Champerty, Limited Exceptions, Key Cases, International Arbitration Carve-out, and Forthcoming Legislative and EU Developments

Published by a Lexis+ Ireland - Dispute Resolution expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note explores the law of maintenance and champerty and its impact on third party litigation funding in Ireland. It outlines the stance of the Irish courts, the recognised exceptions, and recent developments concerning third‑party funding. For general guidance on litigation costs, see Practice Note: Ireland—Legal costs in civil proceedings...

The rules against maintenance and champerty

Third party litigation funding arises where an unrelated party (with no prior link to the dispute) agrees to pay all or part of the legal expenses in return for a share of any award or settlement obtained. Such funding has long been unlawful in Ireland under the Maintenance and Embracery Act 1634 (UK), preserved by the Statute Law Revision Act 2007 (Ireland), which prohibits maintenance and champerty and continues to have effect. Maintenance involves supporting litigation by strangers who lack a legitimate interest. Champerty is funding litigation with the intention of sharing in the proceeds of that action. There are narrow exceptions to these prohibitions where the funder possesses a genuine commercial interest in the...

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Niall O'Connor

Clark Hill

Niall O’Connor advises clients in bankruptcy cases, insolvency cases, employment matters, and commercial litigation cases.

Donal O'Loinsigh

Clark Hill

Donal O’Loinsigh handles the resolution of large-scale disputes through the Irish Courts, including the Commercial Division of the High Court. Donal manages a diverse portfolio of litigation matters with a particular emphasis on complex commercial litigation, financial services litigation, shareholder disputes, investigations, defamation disputes and public interest litigation. Donal acts for a wide variety of clients across a broad spectrum of fields to include Irish and multinational companies, high net worth individuals and SME’s....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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