At times, it has appeared that the protagonists in the battle for Eircom have been more interested in besting one another than in concluding a simple deal.

As bid and counter-bid are placed before the board, there has been the suspicion that, at least in part, the rivalry between the consortiums has been as much about Tony O'Reilly and Denis O'Brien vying for recognition as Ireland's top entrepreneur.

The question for those financing the respective deals at the end of the day is whether they represent value for money . . . whether there is sufficient scope to turn a profit from what are now seen as top-of-the-range offers. Do they know what they are buying?

The Margin hopes a colleague's experience will not prove prophetic. Running a story through a computer spellchecker, it did not recognise the word "Eircom". The dictionary's preferred replacement - rectum . . .