Ciarán Hancockwith the rest of this week's business news

• Aer Lingus is believed to have binned the farewell dinner it was planning to host for former chairman John Sharman on January 22nd.

The knees up was scheduled to be held at the Michelin-star rated Chapter One restaurant in Dublin with board members and others, including Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, on the guest list.

The rumpus over the golden parachute payments offered to Aer Lingus boss Dermot Mannion and finance chief Seán Coyle scuppered the plan.

One of Sharman’s last acts as chairman last October was to sign off on the exit deals for the pair, which were potentially worth €4 million between them.

• Sticking with Aer Lingus, if Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey is holding out for a higher offer from Ryanair for the Government's 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus, he will have to show his hand before January 29th.

This is the cut-off point at which Ryanair could change its offer in advance of its February 13th deadline for acceptances from Aer Lingus shareholders for its €1.40-a-share bid.

Most analysts think Ryanair will have to raise its offer to net Aer Lingus but this will only happen if Dempsey gives an indication that the Government is a willing seller at the right price.

• Dublin-based electronic payments group Payzone has put its audit out to tender as part of a cost-review exercise.

Its current auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is believed to have bid for the work.

Payzone’s financial year ends on September 30th. It has yet to issue its fiscal 2008 results.

• The latest issue of business magazine Poland Monthly shows that Ireland doesn't just lag the central European country in terms of labour costs.

A table in the magazine shows that 30.2 per cent of Polish students in the 20-29 age bracket gain higher degrees. This is a higher proportion than Germany or the US, and Ireland, whose figure stands at 22.6 per cent.

In a report on the effect of the credit crunch on the Polish economy, the magazine estimates that 100,000 Poles have returned home to work, mostly from Ireland and Britain.

• Philip Marley's decision to float his Metic group on London's AIM market just before Christmas seems to be paying off.

Dublin-based Metic closed yesterday at 47.5p, having launched at 28.5p. Its rise is all the more puzzling given that it is involved in architectural glass in construction projects, hardly a booming sector at present.