Breaches to spur election spending overhaul

A RADICAL overhaul of election funding was signalled yesterday amid the disclosure that all but two Government ministers as well as a quarter of all successful candidates breached legal spending limits in last year's general election campaign.

The most serious breach was by Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue, who went almost €29,000 over the limit, but Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was more than €16,000 over, and the average overspend among ministers was over €12,000.

Only Health Minister Micheál Martin and Communications Minister Dermot Ahern came in under the threshold while nine of the 17 junior ministers breached them. In total, 56 candidates broke the rules, 40 of whom won seats.