Hardly has the Government banked its cash horde from the sell-off of its share of Telecom Eireann than it has turned its attention to offloading ICC Bank.
With a price tag of between £250 and £300 million (€317E381 million) and strong interest from financial institutions both at home and abroad, the Government is hopeful of completing the sale by the autumn.
The prize for its suitors is the 9 per cent share of the small and medium-sized business market which it has, together with a large, high-profile venture capital portfolio.
One group certain to be happy with the outcome is the staff - all 358 of them. Between them, they have negotiated a stake of 14.9p per cent in the bank for themselves through an employee share ownership plan. In addition, their current master, the Department of Finance, is imposing stringent conditions on any new owner. These include guarantees of employment and pension terms and conditions and against compulsory redundancies. I think that's called conditional private enterprise.
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