Watchdog ‘cannot examine all CRH emails’

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission cannot examine all 100,000 emails of a senior executive of cement giant CRH copied by it following a “dawn raid” as part of an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The Commission’s search was lawful and it is entitled to lawfully proceed with its investigation but may only examine such emails of Seamus Lynch as are relevant to that investigation, Mr Justice Peter Charleton ruled. There was no need for the Commission to hold onto irrelevant material and it might consider developing a code of practice for future similar cases, he added.

The emails were among materials taken by officers of the Commission after its unannounced early morning raid at the plant of Irish Cement Limited, a subsidiary of CRH, at Platin, Co Meath, on May 14, 2014.