Surprise guests at the Institute of Bankers' centenary book launch on Tuesday were RTE's Charlie Bird and George Lee. The two scourges of Irish banking, the assembled moneychangers, and the Margin, listened attentively as President McAleese referred to "recent events" which had shown the complexity of the relationship between banks and their customers and the need to re-build trust between them.

A photographer, retained to record the occasion for the Institute's magazine, saw the two RTE reporters. "That will make a great picture," he noted. But a nearby pinstripe suit was not so sure. "That's one photograph which I doubt will make the Institute's magazine," he muttered.

further room for manoeuvre there.