Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon will fund her presidential campaign mostly from personal family funds and small donations, her campaign team has said.
Her brother, Mr John Brown, who acts as her spokesman, said Ms Scallon would do "nothing different than she has done in the past" which is to send out letters to potential supporters seeking small donations. She would then "make up the shortfall herself" with her own money.
Although the figures from the 2004 European Parliament elections are not yet available, previous documentation provided by Ms Scallon to the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO), indicated that between 2000 and 2003, she received less than €10,000 in donations of €635 (£500) or more.
Legislation requires that MEPs, like TDs and senators, must disclose all donations in excess of €635. She received no such donations in 2003 or 2000, according to the SIPO files.
In 2002, the year she stood in Galway West for the Dáil, she received four donations that had to be disclosed, amounting to €5,405. The largest was €2,015, from Mr William G. Flynn, promoter of the concept of a completely new city for the West of Ireland. This compares with an election spend of €28,850, according to her returns for that election. In 2001 she received one donation, €952, from the Cork Pro-Life Group.
During her successful 1999 campaign for the European Parliament, she received just one large donation - £3,333 (€4,233), from Mr T. Monaghan. She also declared the use of property and services worth £4198 (€5331).
In 1999 she spent a total of £50,000 (€63,500) on the campaign, £30,000 of which was reimbursed by the European Union.
During 1997 she received the lowest level of donations of all five presidential candidates, £19,229.29 (€24,421). This was made up of nine donations, the largest being £6,728.38 (€8545).
This compares with 51 donations for the President, Mrs McAleese, amounting to £473,719.98 (€601,624).
Although she has spent significant amounts of money on election campaigns, and has received limited levels of large donations, she does not appear to have any major sources of income or financial assets.
According to the most recent declarations of financial interest made to the European Parliament, she had no interests to declare in terms of payments for professional activities, shares or other professional sources of income. According to Mr Brown, Ms Scallon does not have a pension from her time as an MEP, nor any other major source of income, apart from royalties.
Her husband, Mr Damien Scallon, a former hotelier, has a number of business interests. He also operated a Christian record company, Heartbeat Records, when the family lived in the US.