A Co Mayo businessman was given a six-month suspended sentence and a €15,000 fine for his role in a home fuel price-fixing cartel thought to have cost customers millions.
JP Lambe (69) of Brookhill, Claremorris, appeared at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to entering into an agreement to restrict or distort trade in fuel by fixing the selling price.
Judge Katherine Delahunt said Lambe had participated fully in this criminal activity and was an experienced businessman.
She said that "without his talent, acumen and knowledge this kind of distortion could probably not have functioned at any significant level".
The court heard that as a result of the cartel's price fixing, the cost to the public was possibly €4.4 million per year, and prices were perhaps 10 per cent higher than they would otherwise have been.