SMALL firms lobby group, ISME, held its a.g.m. in the sumptuous surroundings of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham yesterday. Despite being very busy making money, over 200 delegates managed to make the trip from the four corners of the country.

ISME chief executive, Frank Mulcahy, berated The Irish Times for its "excessive" coverage of its use of the word "course junkies" which it used to refer to some people on FAS courses.

ISME, a very vocal contender in the PR stakes, was somewhat taken aback when the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU) took them on, castigating them for doing a disservice to those on FAS courses. The INOU stance was widely covered by the media.

The INOU picketed ISME's luxurious (but functional, the Margin hastens to add) offices in Kildare Street - almost opposite the Dail, where that other group of people who help run the country are housed.

A somewhat bemused Mulcahy told the somewhat amused delegates that The Irish Times had said that ISME had lost the high moral ground. "I didn't realise we ever had it."