Pity poor Mary Harney. While her predecessor, Richard Bruton, couldn't let a week pass without announcing a few thousand jobs, she has taken over just as a summer lull means precious few announcements.

To make matters worse she has had to contend with a few closure announcements, notably Asahi. And to put the tin hat on it, EMC in Ovens, Co Cork made its own announcement this week that it planned to add 500 jobs in Ireland, before the project had even come before IDA Ireland or the Government, and thus took the news value out of any subsequent Ministerial unveiling.