Telecom charms the Big Apple to bodhran's beat

The beat of the bodhran is not a sound often heard on Wall Street. But traders on the world's largest stock market were treated to its singular rhythms yesterday as New York's financial district tuned into things Irish.

Banging the goat-skin drum was none other than Mr Richard A. Grasso, chairman of the 200-year old New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) who had received it as a gift from the latest company to list on the exchange, Telecom Eireann.

"I'm Ireland's only Italian drummer," he declared proudly.

Outside, the facade of the exchange building on Broad Street was festooned with green, white and orange banners and flags, while a tent served Barry's tea and Jacob's biscuits to bemused New Yorkers on their way to work.

In recent months, the city's famed financial quarter has been treated to a Pamplona-style bull run, Cossacks on horse back and French can-can dancers as a variety of companies sought to draw attention to their listings.

Yesterday, it was the turn of the Macnas drummers accompanied by the outsized heads of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan, fittingly sporting a copy of the Wall Street Journal. The Galway troupe was joined by long-legged spiders while Irish music blared out from loud-speakers on the street.

"They're very good. We've had nothing as nice as this," one NYSE employee said.

Inside, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms Mary O'Rourke and Telecom chief executive, Mr Alfie Kane shared the honours of ringing the bell to signal the start of the trading session on Wall Street. At exactly 9.30 a.m., on a balcony overlooking the bustling floor of the exchange, they marked Telecom's New York debut as Mr Grasso looked on, bodhran in hand.

Speaking at a joint press conference after the bell-ringing ceremony, the Minister declared herself content with proceedings while Mr Kane pondered the future.

He now has plenty of big and powerful shareholders to keep happy but, as Ms O'Rourke told him, he will no longer have to worry about "meddlesome ministers and cautious civil servants".

"You're on your own now, chum," she said.

By the magic of a live video link, the chairman of Telecom Eireann, Mr Ray MacSharry, was able to witness most of this jocularity from his lunch table in Dublin's Conrad hotel. He seemed relaxed, content to enjoy the festivities from a distance of several thousand kilometres.

Unlike the RTE presenter Mr Pat Kenny, who had graciously agreed to compere the live-link event and who already had an inkling the technology might not function perfectly. After perfect sound and vision of New Yorkers eating Irish breakfasts, donning Telecom Eireann baseball caps emblazoned with Irish flags, being confused by the antics of the Macnas street theatre group, trying to figure out why there was a hugh Telecom Eireann banner hanging on Wall Street and watching Ms O'Rourke ringing the trading bell, the financial journalists assembled in the Conrad expected to interview the minister and Mr Kane.

This was not to be, however, as the one aspect of the flotation the company had not anticipated was the volume of noise on the floor of the New York exchange.

No matter how loudly the questions were bellowed down the Irish end of the connection, the participants in New York could hear virtually nothing in their earphones.

Eventually, Ms O'Rourke removed her headphones and walked away in something akin to dismay. Mr Kane persevered, guessing at what those in Dublin might want to know, and answering on that basis.

After a short time, the New York exchange shut down the link anyway. The spectacle was beginning to interfere with trading, as the real business began.