asked the Minister for Finance if the state of capital assets as presented by Finance Accounts 1980 (page 56) can be verified by him in regard to semi-State bodies; and if the figure is the same in the annual reports of the said semi-State bodies.
Written Answers. - Semi-State Bodies' Capital Assets.
731.
The answer to the first part of the question is yes.
For a number of reasons, however, which are set out below the figures in Account No. XXVII of the Finance Accounts are not necessarily the same as those in the annual reports of the semi-State bodies. The financial year of some semi-State bodies does not coincide with the calendar year. A small number of shares in some bodies is held by directors and other persons, for example, privately or by departmental representatives. In a few cases, there are differences, mainly for technical reasons, for example, a transaction may have been initiated during one financial year and completed in the following year; it may, therefore, be taken into account in the accounts of the semi-State body, but not in the Finance Accounts until the following year, or vice versa. In the case of the Electricity Supply Board, the figure should have read £44,892,572 (at 31 December 1979) and £43,448,162 (at 31 December 1980). The difference in respect of 1979 arose from a clerical error and that for 1980 from a misclassification of repayments which is being corrected in the 1981 Finance Accounts. In the case of Bord Fáilte Éireann there are no repayable advances outstanding: the figures shown (£72,083) arose out of a misclassification and will also be deleted from the 1981 accounts. In one case (the British & Irish Steampacket Co. Ltd.) a payment for goodwill, when the company was acquired, accounts for the difference between the issued share capital in the company's accounts and the entry in the Finance Accounts.