Irish Cement challenges watchdog

The building materials giant claims the CCPC ‘ran riot’

Séamus Lynch, chief operations officer of CRH Ireland, Britain and Spain and chairman of the board of Irish Cement Picture: Barry Cronin

On May 14 last year, the state’s competition watchdog raided the premises of Irish Cement Limited (ICL) as part of an investigation into anti-competitive practices in the €50 million bagged cement industry.

Now ICL’s parent company the building materials giant Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), has taken the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to the High Court claiming the agency unlawfully seized the entire email account of one of its executives, Seamus Lynch.