Speaking of candles, Rathborne Candles appears to have done well from the Millennium Committee's decision to send a candle to every household in the State to mark the end of Y1K. But a closer examination by the Margin reveals that the Dublin firm did not gain as much from the deal as might be assumed.

While Rathborne won the contract to supply the 1.3 million candles, the timing of the tender process was such that it had to sub-contract the manufacture of the candles. The lucky firms were Bolsius of southern Germany and Spas, a Belgian company, which produced 650,000 candles each.

Not surprisingly, Rathborne's marketing manager Justin Kneeshaw said he was disappointed it did not have the time to make the candles. "It would have been nice to have Irish candles," he said.

The firm first heard of the programme in August, which would have left plenty time to manufacture the candles. But the final tender, at EU level, did not go out until October 20th, leaving far less time than the 14-15 weeks Rathborne would have needed to do the job. Negotiations with another Irish firm broke down, so Rathborne says it sought help abroad.

Both Mr Kneeshaw and the Millennium Committee have declined to reveal the value of Rathborne's contract. Asked if a figure of £1.3 million - £1 per candle - would be a good estimation, Mr Kneeshaw said it was worth "considerably" less than this. Whatever the contract's gross value, however, Rathborne's gain will be much less when its friends in Germany and Belgium are paid.