The value of payments made to Mr Ray Burke in the 1970s and 1980s is hard to calculate given wage inflation, fluctuating exchange rates and the price of goods.
Changes in the Consumer Price Index indicate that £1 in 1982 had the equivalent purchasing power of €2.62 today, 20 years later.
But such blunt calculations do not disclose the full benefit of payments to Mr Burke because they were received in more difficult economic times when there was far less cash circulating.
A snapshot of consumer prices and other indicators before the June 1989 general election - when Mr Burke is said to have received more than £100,000 in donations - shows how purchasing power has changed:
Four-bedroom house in Foxrock, Dublin: £80,000
Pint of Guinness: £1.45
Evening dinner menu at a mid-priced restaurant: £12.50
Two-week chalet holiday in Austria: from £319
Ryanair return flight Dublin-Paris: from £171
14-inch colour TV: £229
Remote control video recorder: £399
New Volkswagen Golf GTI: £14,000
Abbey Theatre tickets: from £5
Central Bank interest rate: 9 per cent
Office receptionist's salary: £9,500
TD's salary: £23,177
Minister's salary: £48,991