€11m spent by parties and candidates in election run-up

Ireland's political parties and candidates spent more than €11m on their campaigns in the three-and-a-half weeks before this year's General Election.

Figures published today by the Standards in Public Office Commission show that Fianna Fáil and its candidates spent the most, racking up costs of €3.65m.

Fine Gael spent €2.8m, the Labour Party €1.48m, the PDs €1m, Sinn Féin €685,000 and the Greens €554,000.

Smaller parties and independent candidates spent a total of almost €900,000.

The Standards Commission says it has referred 13 files to the Gardaí regarding the failure of candidates to supply it with obligatory information on their spending and donations.

The body is also calling for a review of the official campaigning period to avoid the "front-loading" of election expenditure.