Christmas is coming and the imminence of the festive season has prompted something of crisis at the State jobs agency, F┴S, which has more than 30 vacancies for the post of Santa Claus.

Jolly gents of rotund aspect are scarce on the ground these days. So to avoid the cancellation of Christmas in shops and shopping centres, F┴S has sought women to fill the positions.

The agency's spokesman, Mr Greg Craig, said: "It's traditionally been a male-dominated profession, but in line with our overall policy of encouraging equal participation in employment, we're asking women to have a serious look at the jobs that are available."

Ladies who don the white beard to dish out goodies to the young stand to earn £9.50 per hour, well in excess of the minimum wage. Whether children will be convinced seemed far from Mr Craig's preoccupations. With a glance to the calendar yesterday evening, he was full of urgency. "It's almost December 1st," he said. "We're running out of time."

That leaves scant opportunities for training in the "yo ho ho" arts, though a sense of humour and tolerance, not to say love, of children are basic requirements of the job. Bottles of rum and hot port are the perks though no company cars will be provided for these temporary jobs. Indeed, an ability to talk to reindeer is also said to be helpful. As F┴S gets to grips again with a skills shortage, no discrimination will be made between old and young applicants.

When the boom was riding high, the agency jingled all around the world to woo workers to the Republic. Mr Craig said the search for Santa had not gone global. but it has embraced the cyber age with abandon and advertised on the F┴S website at www.fas.ie.

'Tis the season.