Serving documents (recast)

Article 3(1) – Transmitting agencies

From 15/04/2019 the transmitting agency in Ireland is the Court Office, Castlebar, County Mayo.

Service of EU documents,
Courts Service Centralised Office,
Court Office,
The Courthouse,
Castlebar,
Co. Mayo

F23 YA99

Email: serviceofeudocuments@courts.ie

Any queries in relation to requests for service made prior to 15/04/2019 should be sent to the office from which the request was sent. List of offices can be accessed at this link

https://www.courts.ie/court-offices-jurisdiction#CC

Article 3(2) – Receiving agencies

From 15/04/2019 the receiving agency in Ireland is the Court Office, Castlebar, County Mayo. F23 YA99

Service of EU documents,
Courts Service Centralised Office,
Court Office,
The Courthouse,
Castlebar,
Co. Mayo

Email: serviceofeudocuments@courts.ie.

Any queries in relation to requests for service made prior to 15/04/2019 should be sent to the office to which the request was sent. Link to all Offices.

https://www.courts.ie/court-offices-jurisdiction#CC

Article 3(4)(c) – Means of receipt of documents

Means of receipt available: documents can be transmitted by post or by a service provider such as an express delivery service provider.

Communications for administrative reasons may also be effected by email.

Article 3(4)(d) – Languages that may be used for the completion of the standard form set out in Annex I

The standard forms can be completed in Irish or English.

Article 4 – Central body

The Master,

The High Court,

Four Courts

Dublin 7

Ireland

Communications in English or Irish may be effected by post, or by fax to the Central Office of the High Court at (353-1) 872 56 69. Communication by telephone to the Central Office of the High Court at (353-1) 888 60 00 is also possible.

Territorial Jurisdiction: National

Article 7 – Assistance in address enquiries

Under the Irish legal system assistance is not provided in locating a party on whom documents are to be served, as it is the right and duty of the party seeking to effect service to process the proceedings, including locating the other party. Where a party cannot effect service though the methods prescribed by law, a court, if satisfied that it is appropriate to do so, can make an order for substituted service.

Ireland does not apply points (a) or (b) of Article 7(1) and the courts do not act of their own motion to ascertain the address of a party to legal action.

The following means of locating a party may be useful:

If you have a phone number but not an associated address the following may be of use

https://www.phonenumbers.ie/

https://free-lookup.net/ireland

https://whitepages.co.com/ireland/

The Companies Registration Office https://www.cro.ie/en-ie/ is the European Business Registry member for Ireland. The Companies Registration Office is the central repository of public statutory information on Irish companies and business names.

The Charities Register, Ireland’s national statutory regulator for charitable organisations can be found here https://www.charitiesregulator.ie/en

The General Register Office (GRO), the central repository for records relating to births, stillbirths, adoptions, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths in Ireland can be found here https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/af7893-general-register-office/

Companies including, but not exclusively, https://www.myvehicle.ie/ and https://www.theaa.ie/car-history-check/ may be able to give an address if you have a car registration number – payment of a fee is required.

Use social media - many individuals list their address, phone number or employer information on social media.

Pay for a person search - many online services help locate a person for a small fee.

Contact the Post Office https://www.anpost.com/ for an address or a forwarding address.

Consider engaging the services of a private investigator or a summons serve.

Article 8 – Transmission of documents

None

Article 12 – Refusal to accept a document

None

Article 13 – Date of service

Provisions of this paragraph do not apply in Irish law

Article 14 – Certificate of service and copy of the document served

None

Article 15 – Costs of service

Where personal service is requested under Article 11(2), Article 15 such service will be carried out by a law agency, private investigator or solicitor at a fee agreed between the parties which fee is normally in the region of €70 to €100.

Article 17 – Service by diplomatic agents or consular officers

Ireland does not oppose this.

Article 19 – Electronic service

None

Article 20 – Direct service

There is nothing to prevent any person interested in a judicial proceeding effecting service of judicial documents directly through the competent officials of the Member State addressed. In Ireland these include solicitors and summon servers

Article 22 – Defendant not entering an appearance

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, a court in Ireland may give judgment even if no certificate of service or delivery has been received, if all the conditions set out in paragraph 2 have been fulfilled.

In relation to Article 22(4), it is for the court to satisfy itself that the application for relief has been filed within a reasonable time after the defendant had knowledge of the judgment.

Article 29 – Relationship with agreements or arrangements between Member States

None

Article 33(2) – Notification on the early use of the decentralised IT-system

N/A