Has The Time Come for An Irish TCC?

Gavin Wilson

January 2025

Winner of the inaugural SCL Ireland – Young Practitioners Essay Competition 2024

The paper suggests that it is time for an Irish Technology and Construction Court to be established. After a review of the TCC in England and Wales, the paper considers the findings of the Kelly Report in 2020, and the fact that Ireland has already paved the way towards an ITCC by introducing statutory construction adjudication. The author questions whether Ireland lacks recent judicial precedent in key aspects of commercial law, arguing that a specialist ITCC would help establish new authority. It further comments that domestic arbitration is currently an unattractive option to deal with large complex construction disputes.

1. Introduction – 2. Background – a. The TCC in England and Wales – b. Ireland’s Civil Courts – 3. The case for introducing a specialist TCC in Ireland –  a. An ITCC is in line with Kelly Report recommendations – b. Ireland has already paved the way for an ITCC by introducing adjudication – c. An ITCC would further support the development of Irish jurisprudence in commercial law – d. Domestic arbitration is unattractive for construction disputes – 4. Conclusion

The author: Gavin Wilson is an Associate Project Manager at WSP in the UK.

Text: 8 pages