TDs won't face charges for breaches

OUTGOING ministers and TDs who breached campaign spending limits in last year's general election will not be prosecuted, the Standards in Public Office Commission has confirmed.

All 56 candidates who over-spent were in fact within legal limits until a High Court ruling on the eve of the election which stated they must include the value of publicly-funded services and facilities used in their campaigns.

However, the commission has decided the ruling came too late to conclude any candidate could be proved to have knowingly over-spent.