Millions of files from the so-called Panama Papers have been published online this evening.

The data, which contains 11.5 million files relating to thousands of off-shore companies, was leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Anyone in the world can now search through the details of over 200,000 businesses, trusts and funds to see who has placed their wealth in tax havens.

A number of Irish companies and people - including golfer Pádraig Harrington, former U2 manager Paul McGuinness and businessman Seán Mulryan - have been named in the database, which stretches back to the 1970s.

However, there is no suggestion that parties listed in the documents have broken the law or acted improperly.

The whistleblower behind the leak broke their silence earlier this week in a statement to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).

The source, known only as “John Doe”, said in a 1800-word note – titled “The Revolution Will Be Digitised” – that “income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time”.

The person stressed that the files were released not for any “specific political purpose”, but rather because they “understood enough about their contents to realise the scale of the injustices they described”.

Revenue has indicated it will be studying the data, which was obtained by SZ and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko are among the politicians whose tax arrangements have been scrutinised in the wake of their leak.