The Electoral Act 1997 was designed to place limits on spending by politicians and political parties at election time and also established disclosure limits for political donations. The spirit of the Act was indicative of a culture at the time whereby people could spend endlessly. It introduced a monetary element into a campaign which was unfair and, in many quarters, unacceptable to reasonable people. That is the reason this legislation was introduced. Unfortunately, over two or three years ago the then Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, ably supported by his Progressive Democrats partners in government, increased the amount of money a candidate could spend by up to almost 50% in some cases in their electoral areas and raised the disclosure limits on corporate donations. This could suit only Fianna Fáil as a political organisation which at election time has a significant advantage over its opponents due to its ability to extract funding from the corporate sector. This highlights its ability to attract donations. In the light of this one does not have to wonder why there is a hospitality tent erected at the Galway races to pay financial homage to the largest political party. The marquee goes up, those who run it tout and then expect others to pour in. This is where much of the money is raised.