In a recent Supreme Court decision, which considered whether
third party litigation funding is permissible in Ireland, the Court
has indicated that developments in relation to such funding
arrangements are a matter for the legislature to decide.
In what was an eagerly awaited judgment, the Supreme Court in
Persona Digital Telephony Ltd and another v The Minister for
Public Enterprise and others 1 dismissed the
plaintiffs' appeal by a majority decision and in so doing,
upheld a centuries-old prohibition on litigation funding by a third
party in return for a share of the proceeds.
High Court Decision
In what was the first Irish case to directly concern the
acceptability of third-party funding, the plaintiff sought a
declaration that the proposed funding arrangement (whereby a UK
company was willing to provide litigation funding in return for a
share of the proceeds, should the plaintiff be successful), was not
in contravention of the principles of maintenance 2 and
