The Insolvency Service has recently published its interim report (the "Report") which considers the three permanent measures that were introduced pursuant to the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 ("CIGA"). For further details on the temporary and permanent measures introduced pursuant to CIGA, see our previous update.

The High Court has held that disclosure of debts and undertakings given to the Circuit Court in seeking a protective certificate for a personal insolvency arrangement can be relied on in other proceedings.

Background

The McLaughlins were engaged in a long running saga of litigation with Bank of Scotland plc (“BOS”) and, after a loan sale, Ennis Property Finance Limited (“Ennis”).

In 2016 they issued High Court proceedings against Ennis and Tom Kavanagh (the “Plenary Proceedings”).

As outlined in our previous briefing note on the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, a new restructuring tool was introduced in June 2020 in the form of the Part A1 free-standing moratorium (the "Moratorium").

Welcome to the sixth edition of our quarterly disputes newsletter, which covers key developments in the dispute resolution world over the last three months or so.

The Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP) was commenced on Tuesday 7 December. Now that the process is available we set out some practical considerations for companies and creditors.

SCARP

Some of the UK Government’s COVID-19 supports for businesses came to an end, or started to taper off, on 30 September 2021. The UK Insolvency service published statistics yesterday showing that the number of corporate insolvencies has returned to pre-pandemic levels. There is no reason to believe that the Irish position will be substantially different when supports come to an end.

What happened when COVID-19 struck?

The High Court has dismissed a challenge to Caffe Nero's company voluntary arrangement (CVA) in Young v Nero Holdings Limited. The Applicant in the proceedings, Mr Young, was a landlord of premises let to the First Respondent, Nero Holdings Limited (the Company) and challenged the Company's CVA under s 6(1)(a) and (b) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the Act).

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation was introduced during 2020 to prevent creditors filing statutory demands and winding up petitions on the basis of their debtor's inability to pay its debts, unless it could be shown that non-payment was not a result of the pandemic. These temporary measures had been extended a number of times during the pandemic as businesses continued to suffer the effects of multiple lockdowns and trading restrictions, but are now gradually being phased out.

The UK Government has announced a further extension to certain protective measures for businesses which are currently in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The recent restructuring of the Norwegian Group by the Irish High Court helpfully clarifies the application of the Cape Town Convention in Irish restructuring. It is also an interesting case study regarding the circumstances in which the Irish courts will restructure a group of companies, which is not headquartered in Ireland.