POLLS APART WHAT OUR POLITICIANS SPENT ON THE ELECTION
STATEMENTS TO THE STANDARDS IN PUBLIC OFFICE COMMISSION REVEAL THAT CANDIDATES IN WEXFORD FORKED OUT ALMOST €200,000 ON THEIR 2016 GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGNS, AND THAT THERE WAS A WIDE GULF BETWEEN THE BIG SPENDERS AND THE SMALL PLAYERS. DAVID LOOBY BREAK
WEXFORD’S 17 General Election 2016 candidates spent amost €200,000 on their campaigns in the run up to polling day.
According to figures recently released by the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) Commission, the majority of candidates submitted expenses statements for the election, amounting to €193,740.
The law provides for the reimbursement of election expenses to qualified candidates at a Dáil general election. In order to qualify for a reimbursement, a candidate must either have been elected at the election, or if not elected, have exceeded one quarter of the quota in the constituency at any stage of the counting of votes.
The Standards in Public Office Commission website, sipo. ie, gives a breakdown of expenditure for each candidate in their election campaign.
The highest spender by far in the county was Fine Gael’s Michael D’Arcy Jnr who spent €38,903 on his campign – almost one fifth of Wexford’s total sum. He was among the top tier of General Election campaign spenders nationally. The whopping sum includes a bill for €2,952 for hiring a plane to advertise his name in the skies on a day leading up to the election, which saw him elected on fourth on the 13th count in the five-seater constituency.
His party colleague Julie Hogan was the next biggest spender, with total expenses of €27,532, €19,307 of which came from the Fine Gael party and €8,225 of which was attributed to campaign expenses.
Fianna Fáil’s James Browne TD was the next biggest spender, with total expenses of €21,933. He spent €1,594 on a breakfast morning launch, €1,353 on car sticker and wraps and €400 for office rental, among other costs. His election expenses statement states that €5,000 of the total sum was assigned to his party.
Minister for Defence Paul Kehoe TD spent €17,278, €399 of which came from the Fine Gael party.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Malcolm Byrne had total expenses of €16,929, €1,505 of which came from his party. His party colleague Aoife Byrne’s campaign amounted to €16,412, €1,786 of which came from the party.
Sinn Fein’s Johnny Mythen, who lost on a seat by a mere 32 votes, spent €15,621 on his campaign.
Labour leader and poll topper in the 2016 General Election Brendan Howlin spent €12,212.
Independent TD Mick Wallace spent €10,236. First time candidate, Independent Cllr Ger Carthy spent €7,971.
Independent candidate, and Foulksmills postmistress Caroline Foxe spent €4,205 on her campaign. No figure was recorded for People Before Profit Cllr Deirdre Wadding or Emmet Moloney.
Social Democrats candidate Leonard Kelly spent €1,846.
First time Green party candidate Ann Walsh spent €2,037.
Former county councillor John Dwyer from New Ross spent €525 on his campaign, while Direct Democracy Ireland candidate David Lloyd spent €100 on his campaign.
Candidates have the choice of spending all of their funding on their own campaign or they can assign some or all of their limit to the party at headquarters, which can spend it on their behalf.
In many cases candidates state that they paid for their campaigns completely out of
their own pockets. These include Brendan Howlin, Mick Wallace, Johnny Mythen and Ann Walsh. Newcomer to the (Fine Gael) party, Julie Hogan was funded to the hilt by the party, who allocated €36,200 to her campaign, €19,307 of which was actually spent.
Among the biggest costs for the candidates were posters, advertising and election materials (i.e. canvass cards, newsletters), while a new facet of this year’s spend was on social media, mainly Facebook self promotion.
James Browne TD spent €5,085 on posters, €4,969 on canvas cards and newsletters, €4,973 on election material and €2,376 on office and stationary costs. €5,000 of his total expenses bill of €21,933.81 was assigned to the Fianna Fáil party.
Aoife Byrne was one of the bigger spender on social media (€554), while Deputy Mick Wallace and Brendan Howlin spent big on posters, spending €7,460 and €6,186 respectively.
Minister Kehoe spent €1,000 on his election vehicle, €156 on Facebook self promotion, €880 on poster cable ties and had a whopping €1,023 Eir phone bill., among other larger expenditures.
The biggest spender Michael D’Arcy Jnr spent €5,027 on posters, €8,850 on other election materials, €4,952 on transport and travel, €18,206 on advertising, €2,952 on aeroplane hire.
His campaign workers bill came to €1,049, paid for out of expenses met out of public funds.
Among the other notable expenditures from the submissions, were from Cllr Carthy who had a €1,277 total for providing food for his campaign team, while John Dwyer spent €50 on Facebook promotion.