Current Account: As the Government continues to mull over the future of Aer Lingus, the airline is pressing ahead with the selection of a new chief executive.

This process is proving painfully slow. An advertisement for the position was placed in the national press earlier this year, but still no white smoke has been seen at Aer Lingus HQ.

Some internal candidates have been interviewed, however, and by early to mid-April we may just see an appointment being made.

Meanwhile, staff are getting on with their jobs, although talk of who their future boss might be is a regular topic of conversation in the canteen.

Internal candidates believed to be in the running include Dick Butler, operations manager, and Maurice Coleman, the commercial manager, who is one of the longest-serving executives at the national carrier.

Enda Corneille, head of European sales, one of the youngest managers at the airline, is also believed to be a contender. Although not well known outside the airline, he has been described by some staff as "Willie Walsh mark two".

However, while the standards of internal candidates are believed to be good, the possibility of a flotation of the airline may not bode well for this group.

If the Government sanctions an IPO (initial public offering), the airline may make a firm decision to select somebody who has experience in bringing a company to market and handling the frenzy that normally surrounds a public listing in Dublin.

But of course, no formal Government decision has been taken on an IPO, so the internal candidates should not worry too much about whether they have sufficient experience in this area or not.

Airport authority not short of funding ideas

Not content with jacking up car parking charges, the powers that be at the Dublin Airport Authority have come up with another money making wheeze. The airport operator has written to hotels in the vicinity of Dublin Airport, offering them the chance to be one of a small number of establishments allowed advertise in the arrival hall. The authority is proposing to install a plasma screen and four phones offering direct-dial access to six hotels.

It seems like an attractive offer, given the potential audience. The only drawback is the price. The airport authority wants to charge the hotels €75,000 a year each, bringing in a handy €450,000.

Needless to say, the idea has been met with some scepticism by the target hotels, which reckon that they would need in the region of 1,000 bookings each through this channel before it starts to make financial sense.

Eircom's quandaries

Consumers can breathe a little easier this week after the telecoms regulator said it would freeze the price of telephone line rental for a year and cap future increases at the rate of inflation.

At €24.18 per month, Eircom's line rental prices are among the highest in Europe and a major source of frustration for people who make few phone calls yet still face a hefty monthly bill. ComReg's announcement of a specific "sub cap" on line rental and a continuation of price controls on a basket of other Eircom services knocked the wind out of its recent share price advance.

After briefly touching €2.20 last month, Eircom has since slid to €1.92 as investors continue to wonder where revenue growth will come from in 2005 and 2006.

There is no sign of a promised re-entry into the mobile sector and the firm now faces even tougher regulation in the fixed-line market. With less flexibility to raise line rental prices, which in the previous quarter netted more for the company than call charges, Eircom needs to prove it can get mobile sometime soon.

Retailer in tax sin bin

A feature of this week's tax defaulters' list was the number of offenders whose lapses included possessing a bogus non-resident bank account. Of the 182 defaulters forced to pay more than €12,700 in settlements, 118 held such accounts.

They include a Bernard Byrne, retailer of religious artefacts from Knock.

He blamed a bank official's poor advice for his aberration. It is not clear whether the bank official was also responsible for he underdeclaration of income tax, corporation tax and VAT that Mr Byrne was also done for. If so, he may offer to help meet the €72,124 bill his customer now faces.