The reason businessmen give money to political parties is that they expect something in return. There is no doubt about this. They would not do it otherwise. People in public companies have a duty to their shareholders and would be dishonouring their shareholders if they were not getting something in return. What they are doing is giving some sort of sophisticated incentives to people to do as they wish. Anybody who believes that AIB and Bank of Ireland and CRH, with their records, were giving money to political parties of all sorts because of their devotion to democracy is naive and innocent.