Construction Arbitration vs Court in Ireland

Construction is the last industry where arbitration clauses are routine — so the “where do we fight?” question arrives with the first serious dispute. The honest answer: the contract has usually already decided, and the real skill is knowing what your forum rewards, what it costs, and which faster routes should run first.

First Question: What Did You Sign?

Irish courts enforce arbitration agreements robustly: proceedings issued over a clause-covered dispute get stayed. RIAI forms typically carry arbitration clauses behind conciliation steps (the RIAI machinery); public works forms route through conciliation; quote-based domestic contracts usually specify nothing, leaving court the default. Establishing the dispute clause — and any procedural steps it makes mandatory — is day-one work, because tactical choices made in ignorance of it are how parties start disputes with own goals.

The Honest Comparison

• Privacy: arbitration is private — no public hearing or judgment — which reputation-dependent businesses prize and pressure-dependent claimants forgo;
• Expertise and procedure: a construction-experienced arbitrator and procedure fitted to the dispute, against the courts’ increasingly capable case management;
• Cost: no reliable winner — you fund the arbitrator and venue, but escape list delays and appeal cycles; modest claims usually run cheaper in court scaled to value;
• Finality: awards challengeable only narrowly — certainty for winners, a cliff for losers, and higher stakes on running it well;
• Enforcement: both end in enforceable outcomes; neither wins this leg for domestic disputes.

The Routes That Run First

The forum debate is often the wrong first conversation. Payment disputes on contracts within the 2013 Act go to adjudication — 28 days to a binding decision, after which the grand forum question frequently never needs answering. And mediation resolves a substantial share of construction disputes at a fraction of any forum’s cost — the Mediation Act 2017 obliges solicitors to advise on it before issuing, and as an accredited mediator Richard makes that assessment from inside the room. The realistic architecture of most disputes: fast routes first, the chosen forum as backstop — mapped case by case via the route finder.