The SPOC knew that this did not make any sense and at an early stage stated there was a difficulty because it seemed that some Dáil candidates were distributing literature in advance of the general election being called and did not have to account for it. That was wrong. At that stage the then Attorney General, now Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Michael McDowell, and the then Minister for Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, advised that there would be no change in the law. This demonstrates an arrogance that could come only from a Government which exploited its position to the full. It could come only from an organisation as large as Fianna Fáil which depends so heavily on the corporate sector to finance its electioneering.