One more thing: As the European Union ponders whether it should afford member states the option to push back the deadline for liberalising their postal markets, at least one independent operator here is actively lobbying Minister for Communications Eamonn Ryan to stick with the original January 1st, 2009 deadline for opening up the Irish market.

DX Ireland is the biggest handler of small mail after An Post, delivering about 40,000 items each night, mostly for business customers.

It's a drop in the ocean compared with the near three million items handled daily by An Post.

The State company has a monopoly on items under 50g, which represents about half of the postal market here and is due to be opened to competition in 15 months' time.

In July, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to allow member states delay liberalisation until 2011. The Council of Ministers is expected to back this decision.

It is understood that DX has written to Ryan to seek a meeting regarding this issue.

The company is pushing for the Irish market to be opened up by the original 2009 deadline.

Sweden, Finland and the UK have already fully liberalised their postal industries, so Ireland could follow

suit.

DX, which has a UK parent company, also wants the introduction of postcodes, greater powers for ComReg, a review of VAT charges for independent operators and assurances that An Post won't be able to engage in "predatory pricing".

DX's anxiety to have the postal market here liberalised is easy to understand.

The company, which has just 50 full-time staff here, posted a profit of €2.1 million on revenue of €7.8 million in the year to June 2006.

That's a juicy profit margin of 27 per cent. Imagine the profits it could deliver if the whole market was open to competition.