IDA Ireland, worried about a shortage of young electronic engineering graduates, might do worse than pay a visit to Terence Conran's trendy eaterie Quaglino's on Bury Street in London. Or to the men's loo there, to be more precise.

The Margin, on a visit to the restaurant this week, was less than impressed to find the gents staffed by a black man in a white servant's suit. The young man was employed to turn the tapwater on and off for customers giving their hands a wash and then pass them a small paper towel. A native of Camero9n, he said he was half way through a course in electronic engineering and intended returning home after completing his degree.

Perhaps he could be persuaded to come to Ireland, where even trendy people can manage to turn on and off their own taps.