13 files sent to Gardaí over election spending

Time Magazine

From RTÉ

Election candidates kept to limits - SIPO
Figures released today by the Standards in Public Office commission show that no candidate exceeded their spending limits in the May election.

However a number of files have been sent to the gardaí in respect of failure to furnish details.

The commission is also calling for a change in the law to extend the period before an election in which parties have to account for their spending

As expected Fianna Fáil spent the most on its candidates with a total of €3.6m.

Fine Gael and Labour come next, but it was an expensive outing for the PDs who returned just two deputies despite spending over €1m.

No individual candidate over spent, but 13 files have been sent to the gardaí in relation to failure to provide documentation, including two in the case of former Fine Gael TD Madeleine Taylor Quinn.

The commission is again calling for a change in the law to prevent parties front loading election expenditure, in effect paying for ads and posters before the dissolution of the Dail.

It wants an election period during which spending has to be accounted for to be defined as the last two or three months before polling day.

The spending by the parties were:

Fianna Fáil €3,650,240.55
Fine Gael €2,809,474.25
The Labour Party €1,477,321.48
Progressive Democrats €1,012,707.52
Non-Party €795,862.25
Sinn Féin €685,095.66
The Green Party €553,858.70
Socialist Party €56,125.49
The Workers Party €30,200.14
Christian Solidarity Party €11,427.06
Total €11.08m

The €11m represents a 20% increase on the 2002 election, about €2.50 per ballot cast.

The unluckiest bastard was Jim O'Callaghan (FF) who spent €38,250 but failed to get elected.

Of course the actual amount of money spent was far greater than €11m with many candidates spending money prior to the dissolution of the Dáíl, a typical example of this is Lucinda Creighton's ads at bus stops all around Dublin South East stating "Don't blame the government - change it!" Of course this is not "election spending" because it doesn't call on the electorate to Vote Creighton #1. However I think it would be unfair on the opposition to implement the Standards in Public Office commission's call to include spending from three months prior to the election as specific election spending - at a maximum only one side of the House knows exactly when an election will be called.

panda100

I guess its a case,like everything else in our society,that he who has the most money always comes out on top. How are smaller parties with decent candidates meant to compete with the ff/fg juggernauts.Hardly a democracy!

The_Minister

Of course Panda, that's why Independants never get electe.....oh wait.
Money helps, but its not the deciding factor. With spending limits, the playing feild isn't too uneven.

flogen

It sure aint - there's less than €400k between the money spent by Labour and the PDs, but there's 18 seats in the difference in the Dáil.

I think there should be some movement to include pre-election spending, perhaps by backdating it... that is to say that when an election is called parties and candidates are expected to detail their spending for the previous three months asap - I'm sure they'd still have invoices, reciepts etc.