About Barry

Barry is a seasoned insolvency expert and litigator who heads our market-leading insolvency & corporate restructuring team. More generally, he has significant Irish and cross border experience and is a highly regarded practitioner. He represents stakeholders and officeholders in a wide range of contentious and non-contentious insolvency and debt restructuring cases.

Barry has been a member of the Council of INSOL Europe since 2016 and in October 2022 was announced as its president.

He is also a Fellow of INSOL International since 2016. He is the only Fellow of INSOL International in Ireland.

Barry contributes to the Irish Chapter of the Restructuring Review - 15th Edition

Relevant Experience

  • CityJet DAC (the largest wet lease operator in Europe) on its examinership, which resulted in the company successfully exiting the process with a significantly restructured business
  • Sean's Bar - Ireland's Oldest Bar on the landmark test case for over 1000 COVID-19 business interruption insurance claims against FBD Insurance
  • CompuB and Stormfront Technology represented the examiner on the successful restructuring of this business (including three English registered companies), the largest premium reseller of Apple products in the UK and Ireland
  • Flairline Fashions (trading as Pemela Scott) (one of Ireland's largest and oldest indigenous fashion retailers) on its restructuring through liquidation of group entities trading in 20 stores
  • Paperchase Paper Products advised the board and the shareholder on the liquidation of its iconic Irish business
  • Aldo Group and Aldo Shoes Ireland on the Irish aspects of its restructuring, including liquidation in Ireland
  • Le Pain Quotidien and its Irish entity on its liquidation
  • Warehouse and Oasis Fashions on the restructuring and ultimate court liquidation of its Irish entities
I have worked with Barry Cahir on several restructuring assignments. His expertise, attention to detail and commitment to our files was always exceptional.
Legal 500 2024
Barry is a leading insolvency lawyer in the Irish market, who has a strong personal brand and brings good commercial solutions to complex problems. A go-to insolvency lawyer.
Legal 500 2024
He is a very prominent insolvency lawyer
Chambers and Partners 2024
Barry Cahir is a leading Irish insolvency and corporate restructuring lawyer who brings a huge amount of experience, legal knowledge, commercial sense, and practicality to challenging and complex situations. Barry is super client-focused and a trusted adviser of mine. Simon Murphy is emerging as a very talented insolvency lawyer, who is always available to discuss and talk through tricky and complex restructuring issues.
Legal 500 2023
Barry Cahir is a leading dispute resolution lawyer in Ireland who brings huge experience, knowledge, and commercial acumen to any engagement. Barry is a trusted adviser who always gets behind difficult and complex issues but then brings it back to key issues, offering his valued opinion on potential options and likely outcomes.
Legal 500 2023
Barry Cahir has a collaborative approach. He works in collaboration with the client as opposed to working for the client.
Chambers and Partners 2023
Barry Cahir is very technical and knowledgeable. He is well respected.
Chambers and Partners 2023
He is a very experienced lawyer, has great attention to detail, provides considered advice and is always commercial in his views.
Chambers & Partners Europe 2022
Our primary contact is with Barry Cahir. Barry has shown himself to be fully committed to support our business and has demonstrated excellent understanding of the key challenges that the business has faced. He has also supported each of the members of our team in managing these challenges.
Legal 500 2021
Barry Cahir is a steady hand to guide clients through what can be difficult processes. His is straight talking and, while his advice is commercially driven, he does not shy away from the technical. He clearly operates with his client’s interests in mind.
Legal 500 2021
He is very good from a technical point of view. He is very commercial and experienced in various situations. He provides good, reasoned and tactical advice.
Chambers & Partners 2021
Pragmatic, commercial, straightforward and technically excellent.
Chambers & Partners 2020
He works on complicated cases and is business-minded.
Chambers & Partners 2019
Available, commercial and service-driven.
Chambers & Partners 2019
He is extremely easy to work with and has the practical experience to resolve complex problems fast. He is also extremely organised and passionate about his practice.
Chambers & Partners 2018
Exceptional lawyer with good listening skills and wide-ranging knowledge
Chambers & Partners 2018
He commands respect among his colleagues and the opposing side.
Chambers & Partners 2018
An excellent source of pragmatic client-focused solutions
Legal 500 2018
Clients describe Barry as 'meticulous and very focused'.
Chambers Europe 2016
Barry is the partner to have on a deal if it is remotely contentious.
IFLR1000 2012
A smart guy and very good at listening, a very helpful and unusual strength.
Chambers Europe 2014