Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The appropriation account sets out that there are different bases for the valuation of different classes of asset. If the State acquires a property, the price paid might be recorded as the value. A standard building, such as an office block, could have a valuation on the basis of what it would cost to replace it. However, the heritage properties are not valued because they almost could never be built again, there is no market and so on. It would be an enormous expense just to arrive at what it would cost to rebuild them. Then there is the question, as the Deputy said, of whether to capitalise the additions being made and depreciate them and so forth. For simplicity, those improvements are expensed and do not appear on the statement of financial position. In a way, the accounting for it is secondary to the economic questions the Deputy raised. Any individual improvement that is made needs to be looked at as a project in its own right with a budget which is tracked and an outturn being identified. However, it is for a different purpose than accounting for it in the appropriation accounts.