This latest list of contributions to politicians provides but a glimpse of their private funding. The donations declared by deputies are from the period May 15th, 1997, to the end of 1997. There were undoubtedly many donations made before May 15th, which was just a month before the general election, but these are not listed.
Missing, too, are donations worth under £500, which are not required to be declared.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, tops the list of recipients of donations worth over £500, with a total of £27,070. Of the 166 deputies, 66 declared donations as did nine of the 60 senators. None of the 15 MEPs did.
The property and construction sector is the most assiduous when it comes to supporting political parties and individual candidates. The largest single donation was made by Mr Johnny Ronan of Treasury Holdings - £10,000 to Mr Quinn, then outgoing minister for finance.
Mr Quinn passed this donation on to his party headquarters. Mr Ronan also gave £1,000 to Mr David Andrews, now Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Treasury Holdings' largesse is surpassed by that of SIPTU, which gave donations of £1,500 to each of three successful Labour candidates (Mr Brendan Howlin, Ms Breeda Moynihan-Cronin and Mr William Penrose) and £1,750 to seven other successful Labour candidates (Mr Michael Bell, Mr Michael Ferris, Mr Michael D Higgins, Mr Seamus Pattison, Mr Ruairi Quinn, Mr Dick Spring and Mr Pat Upton). SIPTU's total contribution was, therefore, £16,750.
Treasury Holdings is among the leading property development companies in the State and is involved in a number of prestige projects. It is leading one of the consortiums tendering for the national conference centre.
As well as its contributions to Mr Quinn and Mr Andrews, the company gave £2,500 to the presidential election campaign of Mrs Mary McAleese last year.
Other construction interests which contributed to Mrs McAleese's campaign also chose to contribute to the campaigns of individual Dail candidates. Kelland Homes, for example, concentrated its efforts on Fianna Fail in Dublin South West, where it gave £1,000 to Mr Chris Flood, now a Minister of State, and another £1,000 to Mr Conor Lenihan. The company gave £1,000 to Mrs McAleese's campaign.
Another major construction company, G & T Crampton, spread its two donations across parties and constituencies. The company gave £1,000 to Fine Gael deputy for Meath, Mr John Farrelly, and £1,000 to Fianna Fail TD for Dublin South East, Mr Eoin Ryan. It also gave £1,000 to Mrs McAleese's campaign.
Two more donors to Fianna Fail also gave money to individual Fianna Fail candidates. Stream International Digital Publishing, which gave £6,500 to Fianna Fail last year, gave £1,000 to Mr Sean Flemming, successful Fianna Fail candidate in Laois/Offaly. Mr John Magnier's Coolmore Stud gave £6,000 to Fianna Fail and £1,000 to Mr Michael Smith, now Minister for Defence.
The Irish Intercontinental Bank crossed party lines to give an individual donation of £5,000 to Mr i Quinn, having given the same amount to Fine Gael. Friends of Sinn Fein, the party's US-based support group, gave £4,996.92 to Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain, having given over £80,000 to Sinn Fein last year.
Mr Mark Reihill, director of Tedcastle Holdings, gave £1,000 to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the same again to the Minister for Finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy. Other business people making donations include Mr Denis O'Brien, the chairman of the Esat Telecom group and founder of 98 FM. He gave £3,264 to Mr Conor Lenihan, who worked for both Esat and 98 FM at different times. Mr Dermot Desmond gave £1,000 to Mr Sean Haughey.
Killeen Investment Ireland Ltd gave £1,000 each to two candidates in Carlow/Kilkenny: Mr Phil Hogan of Fine Gael and Mr Seamus Pattison of Labour, and a further £1,000 to Kilkenny-based senator Mr Michael Lanigan.
Mr Hogan also benefited from another double donor in Carlow Kilkenny: Duggan Steel gave £1,000 each to him and to his Fianna Fail rival, Mr John McGuinness.
Many TDs have listed donations from family members and from various branches and units of their party organisations. Some listed monies received from local garage owners, shop and pub owners and other small business people. i Quinn and Mr David Andrews share another benefactor besides Treasury Holdings - the proprietor of the Eastern Tandoori restaurant, where Mr Quinn is a regular customer, gave him £2,000 and Mr Andrews £1,000.
The recipient of the largest sum composed of donations worth over £500 was the Labour Party leader Mr Ruairi Quinn with £27,070. This includes the largest single cheque given to any individual the £10,000 from Mr Johnny Ronan of Treasury Holdings. Mr Quinn passed this cheque on to party headquarters, but even if this is subtracted from his declared sum it is still the largest.
Under the electoral acts, candidates must declare cash sums received from their political parties. However they do not have to include expenditure by their parties on election expenses that benefited them. Independent Wicklow deputy Ms Mildred Fox appears technically as a recipient of a large sum at £15,984.95. This is because all her money came through her independent constituency organisations, and is shown as one large donation to her. It therefore includes very small donations, which are not included in other declarations.
The legislation gives an insight into political funding, but is still limited in its scope. A donor wishing to remain anonymous can make donations of £499 - and, indeed, could make more than one such donation by doing it through a spouse, family member or company.
Nevertheless, a number of politicians believe donors are already wary of the legislation. Political donations have acquired a negative image in recent times, and some politicians fear that the prospect of disclosure of donors' names will dissuade some from giving money in future.