FOUR brave public servants are heading into the "lion's den" next week to address the Small Firms' Association annual conference, being held in Dublin Castle on Wednesday. Its also being called the "old, new, borrowed and blue" session. The brave souls are Dermot Quigley, the Revenue Commissioners' man about town (borrowed), Tom King, the assistant Garda Commissioner featuring in the news at the moment (Blue), Ed Sullivan, secretary of the Department of Social Welfare (newly appointed) and Kevin Bonner, secretary of the Department of Enterprise and Employment (who is about to retire).

Also speaking is Telecom Eireann's Alfie Kane, never known to appear at a conference without a package of price cuts tucked away in his speech. It will also be the "last stand" of the jobs Minister, Richard Bruton.