In the spring of 2010, BioSyntech, a start-up biotechnology company, developing a cartilage-repair product, BST-Car Gel, filed a Notice of Intention to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. In the subsequent bankruptcy proceedings, the intellectual property relating to the BST-Car Gel was sold.

It has been suggested that Ireland improperly transposed the Employer’s Insolvency Directive into Irish Law by adopting a definition of “insolvency” which requires an actual winding up order (or a resolution of voluntary winding up to be passed) before an employee can have access to the Insolvency Fund, a Government payment scheme which provides for the payment of certain employee entitlements, in the event of the insolvency of their employer.