FORMER FIANNA Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan was the top spender in this year’s European elections, amassing total expenses of almost €215,000 in his unsuccessful campaign in Dublin.
According to figures released by the Standards in Public Office Commission yesterday, the next highest spenders also failed to win seats. They were Colm Burke of Fine Gael, who stood in the South constituency whose total spending came to €198,000 and the Libertas founder Declan Ganley, whose election expenditure amounted to €195,000.
Caroline Simons, an unsuccessful Libertas candidate who stood in Dublin was the highest individual recipient of donations, receiving some €33,000.
Dublin MEP Gay Mitchell, whose expenditure totalled €160,000, was the only one of the top 10 spenders who was successful in his bid to win a seat.
Among the other big spenders were: Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin (Dublin, €160,000); Senator John Paul Phelan of Fine Gael (East, €173,000); Raymond O’Malley of Libertas (East, €160,000) and Dr Alexander Stafford, who stood as an Independent in the South, and amassed expenditure of €174,000.
The spending of some successful candidates was comparatively moderate. The Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins spent €39,000 in Dublin; the outgoing Independent MEP Marian Harkin spent €56,000 in the North West, while Fine Gael’s MEP in North West, Jim Higgins, had expenditure of €54,000.
The total spending by all candidates came to €3,991,629, the highest expenditure to date in a European election.
The commission separately published a report into spending in the two Dublin byelections held on the same day.
In Dublin South, Fine Gael’s successful candidate George Lee (€35,630) spent less than his two nearest rivals. The spending for Shay Brennan of Fianna Fáil amounted to €43,705 while that of Labour’s Senator Alex White was €41,538.
In Dublin Central, the campaign of Fine Gael Senator Paschal Donohoe involved expenditure of €33,348. Senator Ivana Bacik of Labour had expenses of €31,160 while those of Councillor Maurice Ahern (Fianna Fáil) ran to €29,134. The campaign of byelection winner Maureen O’Sullivan, amounted to only €11,516.