Galway East Fianna Fáil TD, Anne Rabbitte, tried to sweeten voters during the General Election campaign last Spring – by spending €285 on Cadbury’s Creme Eggs!
In her Election Expenses Statement, the Portumna-based Deputy Rabbitte, a first time general election candidate, confirmed she spent €95 and €190 on the chocolate eggs for “promotional” purposes.
She also spent some €140 on ‘good luck cards’ for Abbeyknockmoy footballers and Sarsfields hurlers, who were competing in important championship matches during the election campaign.
In total, according to the statement, Deputy Rabbitte spent some €14,446 on her campaign, in which she saw off the challenge of the sitting FF TD, Colm Keaveney, to hold the part’s seat in the three-seater.
Former Minister of State, Fine Gael’s Ciaran Cannon spent just €12,456 on his successful re-election campaign.
Independent Dáil Deputy Séan Canney, who is now Minister of State at OPW, spent some €18,718.
Included in the election expenditure of the former County Councillor, who topped the poll, was €125 for car flags and some €342 for flash lamps and batteries for canvassing in the dark.
In the Galway/Roscommon constituency, Michael Fitzmaurice abides by the principle that an army marches on its stomach, and so his election expenses included two trips to Supermac’s totalling about €60, for food for his campaign workers.
A member of the Independent Alliance, he also declared some €91.20 for 1/25th of the cost of the development and maintenance of the alliance’s website. In total, Deputy Fitzmaurice declared some €11,603.
Minister Denis Naughten, the former Fine Gael now Independent, spent more than €17,500 on his re-election. The third TD in the constituency, Fianna Fáil’s Eugene Murphy spent some €8,900 on his campaign.
This included some €378 for a new television for his office.
TD had to rent car to secure her seat
Meanwhile, in Galway West, Catherine Connolly had to hire a car for two weeks during the General Election last spring – because her own motor broke down!
The Independent Dáil Deputy’s favoured mode of transport is usually a bicycle but she spent €387 hiring a car to canvas during the 2016 election campaign, in which she succeeded in winning one of the five seats in the constituency.
In her Election Expenses Statement, Claddagh-based Deputy Connolly confirmed “rental of car for two weeks because own car broke down”.
In total, Deputy Connolly, a former Galway City Councillor, spent some €14,856 on her election campaign.
The ‘big spender’ of the five candidates, who won a seat in the Galway West five-seat, which includes Galway city, its hinterlands, Connemara and part of South Mayo, was Noel Grealish.
Independent Deputy Grealish spent some €26,315 on his successful re-election campaign, which included posters, advertising leaflets and so on.
Éamon Ó Cuív, who topped the poll after the first count, had the least financial outlay of all of the five TDs, who won a seat in Galway West.
The former Fianna Fáil government minister spent some €10,711 on his campaign. This included some €120 for ferries to Inishbofin and some €500 on Aer Arann flights to the Aran Islands.
Seán Kyne, the Moycullen-based Galway West TD representing Fine Gael – and who was promoted to Minister of State upon his re-election – spent some €22,821 on his campaign.
His party colleague, former city mayor Hildegarde Naughton, who retained a second Fine Gael seat for the party, spent some €16,257 on her successful election campaign.
Unusually, all three Fine Gael candidates in Galway West – including former Galway football manager John O’Mahony, who lost his seat following the boundary redraw – claimed an expense from Applegreen, which amounted to €13.33 each.
General election candidates are obliged to submit records of their election expenses to SIPO, the Standards in Public Office Commission.
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