Esat Telecom's chairman Denis O'Brien and his employees were in fine fettle earlier this week as they collected their licence to compete in a fully liberalised market and celebrated the launch of the new subsidiary Esat Clear to tackle the residential market.

Tuesday was a busy day for Mr O'Brien who donned a pirate's hat, along with chief executive Sean Corkery, to pick up his licence. He then dashed back to the new Esat Clear Headquarters to host a press conference on the new service. Then it was out to Donnybrook, to do battle on RTE's Six- One news with Telecom's Gerry O'Sullivan.

A short time later he was off to Harry Crosbie's new late night venue, Vicar Street, to host a party to celebrate liberalisation at which Jools Holland and his band took centre stage. It's tough work battling State monopolies.