The race to buy the Eircom rump hotted up this week with the entry of a Sir Anthony O'Reilly-led consortium to the fray. EIsland's Denis O'Brien - whose consortium is the only one to have actually offered (albeit indicatively) any money for Eircom - was in flying form on Monday, having flown in to talk to the Eircom unions.

Mr O'Brien said his consortium would be "Irish controlled" and that the rival consortium would have "one foot in the departure lounge". There is of course a touch of irony in all of this. O'Brien (43) is a non-resident for tax purposes, as is Sir Anthony, and Mr Dermot Desmond, whose IIU consortium may yet make a bid for the telecoms company.

Perhaps, they will all meet up in the Gold Circle lounge in Dublin Airport some day and see if they share any common ground, before finally deciding whether to launch formal bids and put an end to what has been described by some as a phoney war.