It is an ill wind that doesn't blow some good, and this seems to apply even to the Tony Taylor affair. Back in 1996 the Society of St Vincent de Paul received a bequest of £182,000 and invested it with the broker. Just a short time later he disappeared and his companies went into liquidation. The society's money was gone.

The loss of the money received a lot of publicity and this week the society announced that Fidelity Investments, the British-based financial products group which Taylor operated as Irish agent for, has given £152,000 to the society as a gesture of goodwill.

However, the Margin understands that since the collapse of the Taylor group the society has been given a number of significant donations by organisations and individuals anxious to help it recover its losses. The amount involved is believed to be well in excess of that originally invested and may constitute a return greater than anything Taylor would have boasted of being able to achieve.