A Meath-based company and its managing director have been fined €5,000 arising out of an Irish Medicines Board (IMB) investigation into the placing of counterfeit condoms on the Irish market.
Sundrelle Ltd and its managing director, Frank O'Gorman, were prosecuted by the IMB and pleaded guilty to a number of charges at Dunshaughlin District Court. They pleaded guilty to eight counts of placing on the market condoms with a misleading quality mark and not complying with essential requirements of 1994 medical devices regulations.
Judge David Anderson yesterday imposed four fines totalling €2,000 on Sundrelle Ltd and four fines totalling €3,000 on Mr O'Gorman. They have been given 15 days to pay or face three months' imprisonment in default.
The outcome was welcomed by the IMB, which issued an alert in March about the fact that up to 500,000 fake Durex condoms, some of them with holes, had been distributed in the Republic over 10 months.
At the time Sundrelle Ltd said it had imported the condoms from Britain. It said it believed the condoms were genuine Durex and had come from a reputable supplier.