Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

There is a critical paragraph on page 2. It is the third paragraph and it relates to the valuation. Halfway through the paragraph the commissioner states that the Valuation Office will have no regard to the motives or strategic interest of either party to the transaction. He goes on to state that the duty of the office under the circular is to provide a form of independent professional evaluation based solely on market evidence and that no other factors can or would be taken into account.

There were different valuations depending on the zoning. This is a well-located site – I completely accept that. It is difficult. We can look at the tables and the valuation put on the properties. I accept the point you are making, Chairman, that they are different. Yet, we still come back to the same point. It is something of a stretch to say the figure happened to be exactly the same amount as the amount that would have got the racing board out of trouble. If this was to be replicated for the purchase of sites for educational campuses, then we would have very expensive educational campuses indeed.