56 politicians exceeded election spending

The Standards in Public Office Commission has revealed that Irish politicians spent €9.24m on their campaigns ahead of last year's General Election.

Fianna Fail and its candidates spent €3.57m, while Fine Gael spent €2.3m.

The commission said 56 candidates exceeded the legal spending limit for electioneering, while one election agent, representing John Halligan of the Worker's Party, failed to furnish a statement to the commission.

A file on the matter has been sent to the gardaí for investigation.

On the day before the May election, the High Court ruled that sitting TDs and Senator must include the value of free Oireachtas services such as postage, envelopes, telephones and secretaries in their election spending statements.

That ruling followed a case by Fianna Fail candidate Des Kelly, who claimed the free use of Oireachtas services gave sitting TDs and Senators an unfair advantage.

The inclusion of free Oireachtas services is believed to be the reason why 56 politicians exceeded their spending limits.

In a statement released this afternoon, Mr Kelly said he believed it would be unfair to punish these politicians, saying they had acted in good faith.