Litigation In Ireland... A Whole New World

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed, or dramatically accelerated the rate of change, in working practices for people in all sectors of the economy. As the Court Service announces plans to ramp up the facilities to hear cases remotely and with a number of high profile cases having recently been directed to remote hearing in the Commercial List of the High Court, despite objection by some parties, I take a look at some significant changes to practice and procedure in civil litigation in Ireland. These changes were put on a statutory footing by the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 ("the Act"), the relevant sections of which came into effect on 21 August 2020. This article will focus on the civil law aspects which are defined in the Act as being anything other than criminal proceedings.