Oh dear. As if things hadn't been rough enough for Eircom, what with shareholders giving the management a drubbing at the emergency meeting last week and sustained criticism over its performance.

Now the Dublin City Centre Business Association has got in on the act. It has nominated Eircom for its wooden spoon award for "their lack of civic pride an failure to respect the integrity of their building". The building in question is on O'Connell Street.

National Irish Bank, which has had its own share of bad press was also nominated for the same award, for the same reasons, for its building, also on O'Connell Street.