Sir, – Last month, Minister for Minister for Local Government Darragh O’Brien increased the campaign spending limit for candidates in this week’s local elections by 18 per cent from €13,000 to €15,350 (News, May 20th). This decision was remarkable, since there is no evidence whatsoever that the previous spending limit was too low.
In an answer to a recent parliamentary question, Mr O’Brien told the Dáil that his department “does not maintain figures” about the level of spending by candidates, an astonishing admission given that he had just decided to increase the applicable legal limits on such spending. He need only have looked in his own backyard to find evidence that the previous spending limit was perfectly adequate.
In the Swords, Balbriggan and Howth-Malahide electoral areas which largely comprise Mr O’Brien’s Dáil constituency, 38 candidates ran at the 2019 local elections, spending an average of just €3,480 on their campaigns.
Just two candidates spent more than ¤10,000, and no candidate came even close to the €13,000 limit.
My adventures on Vinted: I’m not sure how my single hair roller ended up in La Rochelle
The Pig’s Ear, Nassau Street review: A revived menu reimagines Joyce’s Dublin? It could be awful, but it works
Can AI agents replace office workers? We put them to the test with some routine tasks
Whoop MG review: a wearable that makes sense of what all the data means for you
So why increase the spending limit when no candidate was in the remotest danger of exceeding it?
Of further concern is the fact that while the spending limit has been increased, the penal and undemocratic limits on political fundraising which were introduced in 2012, remain in place. Increasing spending limits while prohibiting candidates and political parties from raising additional funds will only encourage candidates to fund election campaigns out of their own pockets. This immediately benefits incumbents, who draw a salary from their elected office, and candidates from well-off backgrounds.
It’s also of concern that the only body which the Minister says he consulted before making this change was the Association of Irish Local Government, the body which represents elected councillors. It’s hardly surprising that this body would advocate a change which benefits its members.
By increasing spending limits in the absence of any evidence, the Government risks taking a small step along the road towards the political systems of the United States and, increasingly, the United Kingdom, where private wealth is often a prerequisite to seeking elected office even at the lowest level, and new candidates are priced out of the market. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Dublin 3.
