High-profile business figures and companies were among nearly 70 donors who gave more than €137,000 to the campaign to re-elect the President, Mrs McAleese.
Just one-third of the money was spent, however, after the President was re-elected unopposed, with the remaining money returned to the donors.
The donations followed a low- key but widespread fund-raising drive by her supporters, headed by Mr Laurence Crowley, governor of the Bank of Ireland.
The fund-raising team included a number of high-profile figures from across the political spectrum, including Ms Mary Davis, the chief executive of the Special Olympics. She was recently appointed to the Council of State by Mrs McAleese.
Others involved in fund-raising were Ms Anna Mae McHugh, the managing director of the National Ploughing Championship, and Mr Eugene McCague, managing partner of Arthur Cox solicitors and a member of the interim Health Services Executive.
Donors included the companies Cement Roadstone Holdings, Royal SunAlliance, Arthur Cox solicitors, Grafton Recruitment and United Drug Plc.
All of these gave €2,500, just €39 short of the maximum single donation allowable of €2,539 under the electoral ethics legislation.
Individuals who made €2,500 donations included; the chief executive of Bank of Ireland, Mr Brian Goggin; Cork businessman Mr Clayton Love; Cork TD Mr Dan Wallace and his son Damien.
Col Harvey Bicker, a Unionist politician from Co Down, who was subsequently appointed to the Council of State by Mrs McAleese, gave a donation of €1,430.30 (£1,000), as did his wife, Elizabeth.
The largest donation came from the Dún Laoghaire-based Durkan group of building companies. Two of its directors, Mr Brian and Mr Anthony Durkan, each made donations of €2,500, while two of its companies gave similar amounts.
As Mrs McAleese was the only declared candidate in the election, she was the only person obliged to make any return.
In the weeks after Mrs McAleese declared her intention to run for the election, and until the closing date for nominations, her campaign spent €45,470.76.
This included €20,605 on renting offices and equipment, most of which was a short-term lease which could not be cancelled.
The campaign team also spent €7,933 on market research, believed to have concentrated on developing a theme for the campaign, while €13,749 was also spent on campaign workers.
The team had been planning a campaign with a budget of more than €500,000, a significant proportion of which was expected to come from the finances of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Key figures in the planning of the campaign included former Fine Gael TD Mr Seán Barrett, who acted as Mrs McAleese's election agent. Mr Pat Farrell, former general secretary of Fianna Fáil and current chief executive of the Irish Bankers Federation, was also to have played a key role.
The campaign was expected to be run on a traditional basis, with Mrs McAleese planning a national tour in which she would have visited every constituency in the State at least once.