Like most new candidates O'Leary faces the onerous task of getting his name known by the voters. It is this recognition factor that will place beer mats as one of the first items on his 'thingsto-do list' next Tuesday morning.

"I'm open to all forms of advertising and I haven't ruled out using beer mats. It will all come down to resources, " the Fine Gael politician says.

"I'm competing against well-known TDs and government ministers so it's very important that I raise my profile. A lot of work is done knocking on doors but advertising is also important."

With a permanent colour advert on the front page on a local free newspaper which circulates in his Dublin South constituency, O'Leary has used a variety of methods to let the electorate know that he is Fine Gael's new general election candidate.

"I've used petrol pumps which was a bit quirky but I felt it worked. Posters in bus shelters also helped raise my profile quickly, " he admits.

The funds for O'Leary's campaign have largely come from personal savings. It's an investment he wants to make, and he's not the only one. In the capital alone in recent weeks, voters in several constituencies have been confronted by advertising and leaflets for new candidates as if the general election campaign is already underway. O'Leary's party colleague Lucinda Creighton, who's running in Dublin South East, is another to use bus shelter ads while two Fianna Fail candidates Jim O'Callaghan and Chris Andrews . . . neither of whom is an elected representative . . . have opened prominently-located advice centres.

Seeking shelter doesn't come cheap None of this electioneering comes cheap. A two week advertising campaign with posters in 1015 well-located bus shelters costs in the region of 5,000 to 7,000. Producing 50,000 canvass leaflets and newsletters will bring a bill of about 1,500. Most candidates will do four to five leaflet drops even before the general election campaign gets underway. In urban areas many candidates from the main parties now pay for their leaflets to be delivered to each household in their constituency. They fork out 1,500 for this service. Other expenses which candidates will incur over the coming months include opening constituency offices and commissioning opinion polls in the search for either good or bleak news.

With goodwill from landlords and volunteer staff the overheads for an office can be kept relatively low but an opinion poll will bring a bill of around 10,000.

Many general election candidates, particularly those nominated by the bigger parties, will have little change out of 40,000 before the next election is eventually called. Interestingly, research undertaken by two TCD political scientists concludes that spending money does matter. Kenneth Benoit and Michael Marsh analysed the spending records of all 464 candidates at the 2002 general election and they provided a blunt message for any prospective candidate. "Spending more money contributes to success, spending a fistful of additional money contributes a lot more." In fact, the evidence from 2002 shows that increased spending on behalf of a candidate brings more votes and also directly increases a candidate's chance of winning a seat.

Most of the money spent will be unmonitored There are strict regulations in place to limit spending during a general election campaign but crucially there are no rules governing the amount of money candidates can spend before a general election is actually called. With the exception of money spent on opinion polls undertaken within 60 days of an election, candidates . . . and parties . . . can spend as much as they want before an election. The rules limiting expenditure are only in place for the short three to four week campaign. This situation means that most of the money spent by candidates in the run-in to the 2007 general election will be unmonitored. This does little to instill confidence that the principles of transparency and accountability are being promoted.

Benoit and Marsh touched upon this serious weakness in the current legislative situation for election-related spending. "It is obviously arguable that a campaign lasts throughout an inter-election period, and that to parties and candidates this matters more than spending in the last three weeks, " the two TCD academics noted.

The Standards in Public Office Commission, which oversees the spending rules, argues that the international experience is that "having election spending limits in place is an important factor in fighting corruption and safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process." The glaring gap in the current law in relation to pre-election spending would appear to undermine any benefit arising from the strict limits in place after the Dail is dissolved.

The Commission has acknowledged this lack of regulation of pre-election spending. "There should be some consideration given to whether, for a specific period prior to an election, there is a need to regulate such activity in terms of the spending limits at elections, as is the case in other countries, " the Commission said.

While the main parties . . . who are the principal pre-election spenders . . . have shown little appetite for further regulations, it's a development which would be welcomed by many candidates including Niall O Brolchain who is running for the Greens in Galway West. "The rules are completely inconsistent. It's a farce really as the last three weeks of the campaign are the icing on the cake. Most of the work . . . and the money . . . is spent before then, " he says.

Like many smaller party candidates, O Brolchain is on a limited budget in his attempt to get elected to Dail Eireann. "With a bit of creativity it's possible to counter money. Michael McDowell got plenty of publicity at the last election without spending money on advertising. But I still think there should be a limit on the spending in the six months before polling day. It would be tragic if we are going to have a situation that you have to spend loads of money to get elected, " he argues.

But O Brolchain and other candidates without access to significant financial resources can take some heart in that money alone is not always a guarantee of success. "Some poorly-financed candidates succeed and some well-financed candidates lost, " Benoit and Marsh said, admittedly before concluding that the 2002 general election demonstrated that "money still improves a candidate's chances of success in a significant way."

'WE HAD A BARBECUE. FIFTY PEOPLE PAID 20' AIDAN CULHANE has spent /15,000 so far this year in his attempt to become a member of Dail Eireann. A local councillor, Culhane is one of two Labour candidates in Dublin South where the party has not had a seat since Eithne Fitzgerald was defeated in 1997.

Culhane's expenditure is split into four areas . . . /6,000 for an advertising campaign on the Sandyford Luas line;

/3,000 to produce leaflets; /5,000 for a number of leaflet drops to houses in his constituency and /1,000 for outdoor bus shelter adverts.

Culhane has given up his full-time job as a books editor to concentrate on his political career and look after his young family. His wife is now the main income earner. For several months, he's been out canvassing four nights a week. But the hard slog of meeting the voters, Culhane believes, is not enough for a new candidate in a constituency represented by two Fianna Fail ministers . . . Seamus Brennan and Tom Kitt . . . as well as Liz O'Donnell of the PDs, Eamon Ryan of the Greens and Fine Gael's Olivia Mitchell.

"I made a decision that I would have to spend money to get my name out and raise my profile across the constituency, " he says. "I think the Luas campaign earlier this year was a huge success. After that, a lot more people knew I was the new Labour candidate."

Culhane has been raising funds from a number of sources but primarily from his friends and supporters. "We had a barbecue night during the summer. Fifty people came along and paid /20 at the door. That's /1,000. Then we had a raffle which raised another /500." The money, however, is spent quickly. He's hoping to have another bus shelter campaign in place next month and is unsure what type of money will be needed in the run-in to the election campaign proper.

In the 2002 campaign, the average candidate spend in Dublin South was just over /19,000. But candidates like Culhane will have spent well in excess of that amount long before the Dail is dissolved and the formal spending rules apply. "I think it would be tricky to have pre-election rules but maybe there should be a limit to what can be spent and certainly a record should be available of spending, " he says.