By Niamh Ellis
The Court of Appeal has ordered Christopher Prendergast to pay the Legal Aid Board's costs following his unsuccessful appeal in a long-running dispute rooted in the destruction of a Co Carlow knitwear factory in 1986.
The ruling deals only with costs. In April 2026, the Court of Appeal had rejected all grounds of Prendergast's appeal against a High Court judgment concerning the Board's termination of a civil legal aid certificate.
The underlying history stretches back almost 40 years. Prendergast and his father were shareholders in the company which owned the factory. After a fire in January 1986, the company pursued compensation under the Malicious Injuries Act 1981. It initially succeeded in the Circuit Court, but that result was reversed on appeal in 1988.
Prendergast later maintained that expert evidence given for Carlow County Council in the 1988 proceedings was misleading and suggested it was fraudulent. He sought legal aid to pursue related litigation. A certificate was initially granted but was later terminated following legal advice and consideration of the available evidence.
After losing his substantive appeal, Prendergast argued that no costs order should be made because his case raised matters of general public importance, because he represented himself without legal assistance, and because he was a pensioner of limited means.
Ms Justice Máire Whelan rejected each argument. The court said the appeal did not establish a genuine issue of broad consumer-law importance, and self-representation does not create an exemption from the statutory costs rules. Limited means likewise did not justify a different order on the facts.
The court also attached particular significance to a September 2024 offer by the Legal Aid Board to mediate, pay the mediation costs and fund legal advice from a lawyer chosen by Prendergast. He declined that proposal.
The Board, having succeeded on every ground of appeal, was therefore awarded its costs, to be adjudicated if the amount cannot be agreed.