It may come as a surprise to members of the public, but some senior figures in the Irish banking sector feel a sense of grievance in relation to the DIRT scandal.

AIB not quite ready to let the DIRT settle

There is currently a bit of a spat between the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and Public Services and AIB over the issue of representatives of the bank appearing before the committee.

AIB chief executive Mr Michael Buckley and chairman Mr Dermot Gleeson SC have both adopted the position that investigations into overcharging on foreign exchange transactions by the bank need to be completed before the bank could appear before the committee.

The bank co-operated voluntarily with the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry into DIRT, an event that did great damage to AIB's reputation and that also led to it making the largest single tax settlement ever.

However, while the PAC did great work in relation to shedding light on the whole bogus non-resident account issue - something that has led to a huge and ongoing windfall for the Exchequer - it failed to inquire into the issue of political responsibility.

For this reason, AIB and the other banks were left more exposed than would otherwise have been the case and it seems some senior figures within the banking sector resent this.

Mr Gleeson, a former Attorney General, acted as counsel to AIB during the DIRT inquiry. It will be interesting to watch over the coming weeks the extent to which he will play hardball with attempts by politicians to investigate what has been going on inside AIBIM and AIB generally, particularly this side of the elections.

Eircom may live to regret misspent past

Eircom's first set of results since becoming a public company for the second time in five years certainly didn't set the markets on fire this week. And Current Account is beginning to wonder if it will ever report a real profit.

The stock continues to suffer a hangover caused by several prolonged bouts of excessive corporate activity. The huge costs associated with its IPO, bond placing and serving its debt - not to mention the €19 million bonus paid to its management - contributed to more red ink in its accounts.

At its analyst conference call this week, Eircom management stressed a return to core values, with the company focusing on turning a profit and rolling out broadband. Yet, despite the upbeat message, Eircom's share price still languishes well below its offer price of €1.55.

Perhaps investor confidence in the telecoms firm was shaken when its own teleconference was hijacked by a rogue chatterbox, who drowned out Eircom boss Mr Phil Nolan's strategy speech.

But of greater concern to the institutions and pension funds who have piled back into the stock is an announcement from NTL that it is investing in broadband again. A successful cable play could erode Eircom's only big growth prospect, broadband.

Eircom's new owners must wish the firm had spent the past four years investing in broadband rather than a succession of lawyers, accountants and corporate financiers. If it had, Eircom would now have an unassailable position and NTL would face a much tougher battle in Ireland.

Aer Rianta cold feet?

It is a race against time. Will Séamus Brennan be able to dissolve the Aer Rianta board before his old sparring partner, Aer Rianta chairman Noel Hanlon, retires in September?

The relationship between the two men has never been warm and it would be ironic if the Government plans went ahead and Mr Hanlon was not even able to finish his term on the Aer Rianta board.

The Minister's biggest obstacle may be convincing the Taoiseach that the plan makes sense. There is a lot to be said for giving Cork and Shannon airports some commercial freedom. But the Government has the broader social partnership picture to consider and, with heavy-hitters like David Begg warning about the effects of the Minister's plans on social partnership, some of Mr Brennan's colleagues may have got cold feet. The issue, according to sources, has been parked until after the local and European elections.

Mr Brennan has staked a lot of political capital on the project and he did remind everyone yesterday that breaking up Aer Rianta was official Government policy.