Price-fixing inquiry receives details on flooring contracts

The Competition Authority, which has launched a major inquiry into allegations of price fixing among big industrial flooring companies, has received detailed information about the contracts and flooring work undertaken on the Google Docks building in Dublin, previously known as Monte Vetro.

The information was provided to the authority by the Dublin office of Gardiner & Theobald (G&T), which is not under investigation for price fixing and which is co-operating with the authority.

G&T was one of the main contractors on the Google job, and was involved in awarding the flooring contracts. Two other large main contractors have also been providing potential evidence to the authority to assist its price-fixing investigation, which has focused on work completed for multinationals and large Irish organisations.

In recent months, as revealed yesterday by The Irish Times, Competition Authority investigators and gardaí raided the offices of four of the State's biggest industrial flooring contractors – Crean Mosaics, Aston Carpets, Carpet Centre Contracts and Floor Form Ireland.

The allegations of price-fixing were made to the authority by a whistleblower last year. They remain unproven and the investigation is ongoing.

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) said yesterday that if price-fixing was happening, it "damages the entire industry and delays any revival throughout the [construction] sector".

“CIF completely opposes the perpetration of anti-competitive practices. Competition is an essential component of any healthy industry and it is the position of the CIF that competition law should be respected by all construction operators and everyone associated with the industry,” it said, adding that price-fixing should be “stamped out”.