A shipment leaves an Irish port, the goods are delivered, and the invoice sits unpaid past every promised date. Trade freight debt recovery in Ireland only works once the claim is tested against the debtor's real position before a single letter goes out. SOLUTIO reviews the shipping and payment record, checks what an Irish court would accept as proof, and says plainly when a balance is not worth pursuing.
The starting point is the paper trail: the contract of carriage or sale, the bill of lading or CMR note, the invoice, and any correspondence where the debtor accepted the goods or the service without objection. We set out that record before choosing a route, because a claim with a clean documentary chain moves faster than one built on a verbal understanding.
Where the debtor still trades and simply delays, a formal demand sets a deadline and states the consequence of ignoring it. This is the assessment stage of our wider trade and freight debt recovery work, applied here to Irish procedure and to whichever forum the contract or the carriage terms point to.
If the debtor still does not pay, the claim moves through the ordinary commercial court process: a summons, a defence or its absence, and judgment. A limitation period applies to contract and carriage claims in Ireland, and it can run differently for a cargo claim than for an unpaid invoice. We confirm the applicable period against the facts of the shipment before advising on timing.
Irish courts look for a documented acceptance of the goods or service, a clear invoice trail, and evidence that the debtor raised no objection at the time. A signed order does not settle a case on its own. What settles it is whether the debtor can point to a defect, a short delivery, or a dispute raised before the invoice fell due.
The debtor's conduct after delivery matters as much as the contract terms. Part payment, an acknowledgement by email, or continued trading after the invoice date all narrow the room for a defence. Where none of that exists and the file is a bare unpaid invoice with no response on record, the claim is stronger than it looks from the outside.
Corporate research on an Irish debtor – checking filings, trading history, and public register entries – is carried out through legal research and corporate intelligence from public and licensed sources. Work of that kind on an individual, rather than on a company, sits outside what we present as a service in Ireland or anywhere else.
Pre-legal contact with the debtor is handled either by SOLUTIO directly or by an admitted lawyer in Ireland, depending on the stage and the tone the file needs. Where court proceedings are the right route, the case is run by an admitted lawyer in Ireland instructed on the file. SOLUTIO does not appear before the Irish courts itself.
SOLUTIO assesses the claim, sets the strategy, and stays the point of contact for the creditor throughout. That approach underpins our cross-border debt recovery in Ireland work generally, not only for freight and trade claims that pass through an Irish port.
Admitted lawyers and licensed providers in the jurisdiction concerned carry out the steps that Irish law reserves to them: filing the summons, appearing in court, and taking enforcement steps once judgment is obtained. That division keeps the creditor talking to one point of contact instead of a new correspondent at every stage, and the fee basis for each stage is agreed before instruction, not decided once the case is already underway.
Not always. A debtor sometimes settles after a formal demand, particularly where the documentary record is clear. Where the debtor does not respond, the ordinary route in Ireland is commercial court proceedings, run by an admitted lawyer instructed on the file.
A limitation period applies to contract and carriage claims in Ireland, and the period that applies can depend on how the claim is framed. We check the applicable period against the facts of the shipment or the invoice before setting a timetable, rather than assume a single fixed period covers every claim.
Corporate research on a company is carried out through public filings and licensed information sources as part of the assessment. We do not offer that work as a standalone service, and we do not carry out research on individuals in any jurisdiction, including Ireland.
Every month a freight or trade invoice sits unpaid, the debtor's remaining assets move further out of reach, and another creditor's claim can move ahead of the one still waiting on an internal decision. The cargo may already be sold on, and the company that owed the invoice may not be the company still trading under that name by the time a claim is filed. Assessing the file now, rather than after the next shipment cycle closes, is what keeps the option open.