The office of Public Works has produced a beautiful book on the architecture of State buildings from 1900 to 2000 - Building for Government.

And when the Minister responsible for the OPW, Martin Cullen, launched the book recently, he didn't have to indulge in any hyperbole. With essays from Professor Terence Brown, the Trinity academic, and architects Arthur Gibney and Michael O'Doherty, and wonderful photographs from a variety of sources, the book sells itself to anybody interested in history or architecture, teachers or students studying architecture or architecture-related subjects, but above all it is a history of the buildings the taxpayer has provided for the Irish nation from before Independence to the present day.

Not that every State building of the last 100 years is beautiful - some are downright awful, as we all know - but in bringing together the best of our efforts, it focuses our minds on what can and should be examples of when we do things right.

Martin Cullen, in his speech at the launch, said there was no better time to take stock of the work carried out during the past century. The book, he said, afforded us an opportunity to account for the work with which the OPW had been entrusted on behalf of the Government and to acknowledge, too, the confidence the Government and the public service had placed in the OPW.

He didn't say that this work was often undertaken when the OPW hardly knew where its next penny was coming from, but that has frequently been the case. However, he cited the OPW's work at sustainable development, through the adaptation of old buildings for new uses - the former College of Science into government offices and Dublin Castle, where 1,000-year old buildings have been refurbished and extended for contemporary purposes, including conference facilities and State and official functions.

Other, less recent, works included the reconstruction of the Custom House, the Four Courts and the GPO in Dublin, and later the work on Kilkenny Castle and Castletown House and the preservation of the monastic settlement on Sceilig Mhichil.

It's a history, but also a coffee-table book, which anyone who could afford it would love to have. The bad news is that the price is £40. Any Christmas book tokens left over?