Parties declare almost €300,000 spend on Dublin-Central and Galway-West by-elections

Last week's elections were the in Ireland under new EU rules, which require real-time declaration of spending

Social Democrats' candidate Daniel Ennis spent €15,700 on his campaign in Dublin Central.

Political parties have declared nearly €300,000 in spending on the Dublin Central and Galway West by-elections.

The elections were the first in Ireland under the EU's Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) Regulation, which requires real-time declaration of spending.

Returns as of Monday showed over €150,000 spent in Galway West and €125,000 in Dublin Central.

Spending categories across the board focused largely on posters and leaflets in the early days, with canvass cards, stickers and clothing for volunteers coming closer to election day. 

Some parties, including Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, spent up to €1,400 on wrapping cars with candidates' names and faces.

The declarations show the campaigns of successful candidates — Social Democrats' Daniel Ennis and Fine Gael's Seán Kyne — were vastly different in terms of overall spending, but not massively different in terms of costs per vote.

Galway West by-election candidate Seán Kyne spent nearly €41,000 on his campaign.

Mr Ennis spent €15,700 as he won the Dublin Central vote and amassed 4,903 first preferences, a cost of €3.20 per vote. Mr Kyne's campaign spent nearly €41,000 in the much larger Galway West and took 9,647 votes, a cost of €4.25 per vote.

Overall, the Social Democrats spent €36,400 on Mr Ennis and Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich's campaigns, while Fine Gael spent about €72,000 on Mr Kyne and Dublin Central's Ray McAdam's campaigns.

In Dublin Central, Fianna Fáil's spend of €18,050 on its candidate John Stephens, who netted 1,049 votes, a cost of €17.20 per vote. Overall, the party declared just over €48,000 in spending on both campaigns, including a €7,715 newsletter drop in Galway for Cllr Cillian Keane.

Sinn Féin declared spending of just under €32,400 for its candidates Janice Boylan and Mark Lohan. Ms Boylan finished second to Mr Ennis in Dublin Central. 

Meanwhile, the Labour Party said it spent about €26,000 on its campaigns for Helen Ogbu in Galway West and Ruth O'Dea in Dublin Central.

The Green Party's spend of €19,200 was largely focused on Cllr Janet Horner’s campaign in Dublin Central which saw her perform above expectations and finish third. About €16,500 of the spend was on Ms Horner.

Aontú listed about €16,000 in spending, Independent Ireland about €15,000 — seeing Noel Thomas finish second in Galway — and People Before Profit just over €14,000.

There was, however, little spending on online ads due to the new rules. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, announced last July it would end political, electoral, and advocacy-based advertising on its platforms in protest at the new EU rules.