FÁS gainfully employed training its own staff:  With unemployment now standing at approximately 4.5 per cent, one wonders what the State's various job creation agencies do to fill their days.

With the economy so close to full employment it must be very difficult for agencies involved in job creation and training to justify their existence to their political masters.

FÁS, which describes itself as the "employment and training authority", often gets a hard time in the press in this context.

Critics of the organisation, for example, often wonder where does FÁS find the people it trains and prepares for employment.

However, it is probably an unfair charge to lay at the organisation's door, but a tender put out by the organisation this week is likely to provide plenty of ammunition for its critics.

FÁS already scratching around for people to train has decided it needs to consider the skills and training needs of . . . its own staff.

A tender notice from the organisation this week says: "FÁS wish to ensure that all their staff acquire the full range of competencies required to perform the various functions of the organisation."

Is this a case of the trainers training the trainers?

Shell seems unable to put a foot right here

It's getting worse and worse for Shell, the energy multinational that seems unable to put a foot right in Ireland.

Mired in relentless protest at the controversial Corrib gas site in Mayo, it now emerges that the group that bought out its Irish oil distribution business in 2005 has clawed back half its money by selling off a few filling stations.

Shell realised about €160 million on the sell-out but the acquirer, Topaz, reveals today that it has already taken in €80 million through shrewd leverage of the property assets in the filling station network.

That's hardly inspiring form from Shell. But then, the group was very busy in Ireland in 2005. Whatever the merits of the argument from the Rossport Five, their imprisonment for 94 days that year did little to advance Shell's cause in Mayo.

Adherence to the rule of law is one thing.

The Topaz deal suggests Shell missed out on the most basic rules of business.

Insider circle

It doesn't take long for a financial journalist to become familiar with the use of acronyms such as PBT (profit before tax) and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in a company's earnings statement and to portray their significance to readers in a way that tells them whether the stock is to be recommended or not.

The same, however, cannot be said of mining companies. While the common act of "spudding a well" can be understood as the start of drilling operations, Circle Oil's announcement earlier this week describing finds made last year as including "an untested, inboard basin play of probable salt-related Infracambrian to Paleozoic-aged objectives, a sub-ophiolite play and a Tertiary-aged turbidite play" leaves the mind boggling and the investor wondering whether he should buy or sell on the back of the news.

Judging by this statement, Circle Oil only wants insiders on its share register.

Smurfit exchange boost

Formal notice of Smurfit Kappa's return to the stock market came only hours after the Irish exchange issued its annual review for 2006, a stellar year in which Iseq index rose 28 per cent and touched a new all-time high of 9,453 on December 28th.

Ten new companies joined the exchange in 2006, with the bulk of the action seen on small-cap the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX). Only Aer Lingus, whose long-term future as an independent public company remains in some doubt, made it as far as the main market.

In rude health as the Irish exchange undoubtedly is, the main index will receive a boost when the Smurfit business ends five years of fully private ownership with its return to the public markets.

No other major listings are expected this year, although another eight firms are likely to join the IEX.