Sinn Féin candidate spent most in March elections

Sinn Féin had the highest spend for any individual candidate in the March byelections, according to figures published yesterday by the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Expenses for Cllr Joe Reilly, Sinn Féin's representative in the Meath poll, totalled €37,499, just ahead of the €37,136 spent by the successful candidate, Fine Gael's Shane McEntee.

Mr McEntee won the seat on the fourth count, beating Fianna Fáil's Shane Cassells by 3,000 votes after the elimination of Cllr Reilly and Labour candidate Cllr Dominic Hannigan.

The winner of the Kildare North byelection, Independent Catherine Murphy, was only the fifth-largest spending candidate in her constituency.

Ms Murphy spent only €16,398, while Labour's Paddy McNamara was the biggest spender with €25,215.

Ms Murphy finished 2,000 votes ahead of Fianna Fáil's Áine Brady on the final count.

Ms Brady was the second-biggest spender in the constituency at €25,045.

The total expenditure in the two elections was €321,767.25. This was made up of €189,738.19 in Meath and €132,029.06 in Kildare North.

However, none of the 15 candidates exceeded the allowable spending limit, which in Meath was €38,092.14 and in Kildare North €25,394.76.

The limits are based on the number of seats in each Dáil constituency - the euro equivalent of IR£30,000 for a five-seater and IR£20,000 for a three-seater.

Candidates and their agents are subject to financial penalties if they exceed the limit, and in some cases the election result can be overturned.

The figures relate only to spending on goods, property or services used during the official campaign, which ran from February 15th to March 11th.

Donations totalling €3,600 were disclosed by three of the 13 beaten candidates.

Senator Kate Walsh (PD, Kildare North) accounted for the largest amount, €1,800, while Ms Brady (FF, Kildare) and Liam Ó Gógáin (non-party, Meath) disclosed gifts of €1,000 and €800 respectively.

The 10 other defeated candidates all said they had not received any donations valued at more than €634.87.

As TDs, the winning candidates will be required to furnish a statement next January of donations received during 2005.

A total of €69,835.59 will be paid by the Exchequer to 11 candidates who qualified for a reimbursement of expenses. Each receives the maximum reimbursement of €6,348.69.

The lowest spending candidates were Mr Ó Gógáin with €2,401, and Sean Ó Coistín (non-party, Kildare) with €243.