Detoxed Taoiseach has an early night

CurrentAccount:A detoxed Bertie Ahern was in top form at a function in the Irish embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh during the week.

The party was made up of Saudi-based Irish people, those travelling with the Enterprise Ireland trade mission and some invited Saudis.

Bertie made a light-hearted speech and had the crowd in stitches.The themes running through the address were taxes, drink and the way it can seem that the Irish diaspora is running the world.

Saudi Arabia is a strict Muslim country and alcohol is not permitted. Bertie, along with the three Ministers on the mission - Micheál Martin, Mary Coughlan and Mary Hanafin - were put up by the Saudi government in its state guest house. Not a hint of a beer anywhere. The Taoiseach remarked that it was quite an achievement to have himself and his three Ministers in their beds early on a Sunday night. He was so impressed that he was considering introducing restrictions on alcohol back in Ireland. "But not until after the election."

Later in the week, he travelled to Dubai. The construction boom there makes Ireland's building activity look like an afternoon snooze.

Yesterday, Bertie visited a mosque, where he was shown around by a helpful and friendly man. "Are you the imam?" asked the Taoiseach.

"No sir," he replied. "I'm an estate agent."

Delay to new rules for casinos still a safe bet

Anyone who was betting on seeing Minister for Justice Michael McDowell's report into casino regulation before the new year is out of pocket at this stage.

Last August, the Minister appointed barrister Michael McGrath to chair a committee to look into the issue, after being convinced that his original plan to close down existing casinos, which operate as clubs, was not going to work.

The industry expected the report to be completed by Christmas, but the date has been moved several times since then. Various sources have predicted early in the new year, such as late in January. Current Account can now reveal that the Minister has a draft report but it has yet to be finalised, so publication could be some time away.

Any legislation is likely to take an even longer time as we're within six months of an election. Given that at least some in Opposition could try to claim that legalising roulette will mean the end of civilisation, it is likely that any further steps down this road will be put off until the second half of the year, at the very least.

Seeking sound advice

Independence is something of an amorphous concept in the world of financial services. Yesterday, the financial regulator issued a press release, claiming that half the population would approach their bank for independent financial advice.

Really? Current Account believes most people who had the financial acumen to sign up to a Special Savings Incentive Account (SSIA) and then chose to listen only to their bank's entirely self-serving sales spiel on re-investment options are quite aware that it is exactly that.

At the very least, they don't need the regulator to tell them that Bank of Ireland isn't going to commit commercial suicide by recommending an AIB savings account, even if it does have a better interest rate.

Long has the debate raged, or at least rumbled, about exactly how "independent" financial advice can be when the advisers in question receive varying levels of commission from the companies selling the products they recommend and omit to mention the perfectly good products sold by the companies with which they don't have agency agreements.

Even authorised advisers, who are supposed to advise on a full range of providers, are generally paid by commission - a pragmatic way of doing business that allows brokers to advertise "free" financial consultations and also suits consumers who don't want to pay upfront or think about any of it too hard.

Registers of multi-agency intermediaries and authorised advisers - which have been promised since the "consumer watchdog" was established in 2003 - will, we are assured, be published on the regulator's website in the final quarter of this year. It is among its "high-level goals" for 2007.

Unfortunately, this won't give a breakdown of the handful of authorised advisers who will do business on a fee-only basis, arguably providing little assistance to consumers attempting to follow the regulator's own, frequent advice: to seek independent advice.