The business lobby group, ISME, vowed yesterday to become a respectable, trustworthy and honest organisation with a strong voice as a social partner - then ejected all members of the press from its annual general meeting.

Fewer than one in 10 of ISME's members attended the gathering in Dublin, and these spent much of their energy discussing the bitter feud within the organisation which led to the departure of its former chief executive, Mr Frank Mulcahy.

In his opening remarks to the a.g.m., ISME's current chairman, Mr Seamus Butler, said that over the past 11 months, he had suffered his most sustained levels of stress, but had always acted in the interest of the organisation.

Although ISME's function as a small and medium-sized business lobby is duplicated by the IBEC-affiliated Small Firms' Association, Mr Butler insisted that his organisation deserved to exist.

"ISME must have its voice heard as a full social partner, and be seen and heard as a respectable, honest and trustworthy organisation," Mr Butler added.

Immediately after the chairman's address, the a.g.m. began a long and repetitive debate over whether or not to approve the annual accounts. Members questioned whether the accounts for 1997 had been put before a previous meeting; whether some items should have been properly placed in a different year; whether some items should have been spread across two years; whether, in previous years, full sets of accounts should have been made available to members and not just members of the organisation's ruling council; whether the accounts should be approved with amendments; and other points.

At the end of this wrangle, the accounts were approved by a large majority.

The meeting heard that, of the 1,065 member companies, just 318 had attempted to vote in the ballot to elect members of the council. Of these, 55 members had their ballots rejected because they had not arrived in time.

Mr Butler then told the a.g.m. it was time for "any other business". In apparent anticipation of yet another round of internecine spite concerning the removal of Mr Mulcahy, the chairman warned members to control any slanderous instincts, as the meeting was "not privileged".

Members immediately demanded that the media be ejected from the room, and, without a single ISME delegate speaking out in favour of press freedom, the meeting voted overwhelmingly to bar reporters.

The reporters then left.