Liquidator must pay out twice

One More Thing:Dublin accountant Simon Coyle will today seek his legal costs from the liquidator of Tralee Beef & Lamb after successfully overturning his restriction as a director in the Supreme Court.

The irony is that the company's liquidator, another accountant, Tom Kavanagh, will have to pay out on the double for a legal action he didn't want to take almost five years ago. Kavanagh asked for permission from the director of corporate enforcement, Paul Appleby, not to take a restriction case against Coyle back in 2002 because he felt Coyle had acted responsibly and honestly as a non-executive at the company. Appleby refused and Kavanagh was forced to take a case he didn't want to fight.

The High Court restricted Coyle in 2004. Three years later he successfully appealed with the Supreme Court, raising serious criticisms about the operation of Appleby's office and corporate law enforcement in Ireland.

Now the very people whom Appleby's office was set up to protect will lose out - creditors of an insolvent company. The costs of the High Court and Supreme Court actions will now have to be paid from the heavily depleted coffers of Tralee Beef & Lamb.

It raises the question - if Appleby feels a restriction case is warranted against a particular director, shouldn't his office foot the legal bill? He would save some pennies for embattled creditors.