Did you hear the one about the leading institution which bought state-of-the-art technology only to find that a holiday in some foreign land ensured that the stuff did not work? No? Then you weren't looking at the Irish Stock Exchange this week.

The exchange finally gave up on chalk and blackboards earlier this year when it moved onto the Xetra electronic exchange system. Unfortunately, orse, its prime customer, decided to shut up shop for the day it was only this week, when the Germans decided to give themselves a public holiday to mark 10 years since the collapse of the Berlin wall, that it emerged the system was inextricably tied into German trading hours. So it was back to the glantoirs for the boys and girls at the exchange for the day. But with organisation like that, is it any wonder that the exchange is increasingly seen as an irrelevant backwater whose days may well be numbered in the consolidation ongoing in the sector?

Dominic Coyle can be contacted at dcoyle@irish-times.ie