Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-09
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

Amendment No. 8 seeks to reverse the burden of proof, so that where an applicant is seeking leave from the High Court for enforcement of an award, the applicant would demonstrate that the enforcement of the award would not compromise the constitutional order of the State, the fundamental principles of the constitutional order of the State, or the State's obligation to give effect to European laws, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Rather than it being the case that the State would go to the High Court to say it does not wish to allow enforcement on an award, because it feels it is in breach of the constitutional order of the State or EU law, the obligation would be on the applicant, that is, the company seeking enforcement of an award. It would have to demonstrate that the enforcement of the award would not breach these factors and is not in breach of them. It is a shifting of the burden of proof. It would ensure that any enforcement in the State would at least have gone through some process of consideration by the High Court in which the question of the constitutional order and that of the EU would be weighed up.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-09