Finally, the day of reckoning came. All the hundreds of thousands of people who had bid for Telecom Eireann shares were put out of their misery as the Government announced the flotation price of €3.90 (£3.07).

In the end, the Government, torn between the political need to ensure the price was low enough to provide speedy profits for first-time punters and the desire to maximise the take for the State coffers on the sale, opted to lean toward the latter.

The feeding frenzy as unofficial trading in the shares began on Thursday showed there was plenty of appetite among institutions for the stock. While that is likely to continue given how oversubscribed the issue was, stockbrokers issued a timely warning to novice private investors not to expect untold riches when official trading begins late next week.

Prices of €5.30 (£4.25) at one point on Thursday equated to a 36 per cent rise on the flotation price. But, already, the price has settled back into the €4.70s. If the market is inundated with shareholders looking for immediate gains to pay back bank loans, the price will fall fairly steeply. After all, the market is a classic example of the workings of supply and demand.

Already some first-time shareholders are bleating about the institutions grabbing whatever quick profit is to be had in unofficial trading. That, for better or worse, is a fact of life and it is certainly not something that was sprung on investors after they committed their money. No doubt, there will be other traumas for the novices as the flotation unwinds.