Here's how party candidates have spent more than €250k on the upcoming byelections

by · TheJournal.ie

WITH POLLING DAY fast approaching, candidates across the two byelection constituencies have spent a combined €252,294 on their campaigns, splashing out on everything from posters, car wraps and canvass cards to bus shelter ads.

Spending returns published on the websites of candidates’ political parties show that the Galway West race was the bigger-spending contest, with candidates collectively laying out €139,989 compared to €112,305 across Dublin Central.

The figures were first reported by writer and advocate Liz Carolan in her blog The Briefing.

As explained by Carolan, this election is also the first major test of the EU’s new Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) Regulation, which came into force earlier this year.

The laws require political advertisers to clearly label their ads and to disclose who paid for them and how much they spend. The regulation covers ads in print, posters, billboards and websites. (Transparency around social media and broadcast advertising falls under the remit of Coimisiún na Meán.)

The rules mean more of this type of spending by parties is now visible than ever before. Whether the biggest spenders get the best return on polling day is something the count will answer.

“Hopefully the new laws will help voters going into the polling booth to think, okay, we know a little bit more about who’s asking for our votes, how they’re asking for it, how much did they spend to try and influence it,” Carolan explained.

We had a look at the figures to see for ourselves. So which candidates spent the most on the campaign trail?

Dublin Central

In Dublin Central, Fine Gael’s Ray McAdam has run the most expensive campaign, spending a total of €30,202, more than a quarter of the entire constituency’s combined total.

His expenses span 16 separate items, including a €14,144 pole poster blitz across the constituency to targeted local leaflets in Drumcondra (on Bus Connects) and Stoneybatter (on bins).

A “Don’t Waste Your Vote” leaflet dropped in the closing days cost a further €560.

Across Dublin Central as a whole, posters (pole posters, election posters and pull-ups, a portable, retractable advertising display) account for the biggest share of spending. Leaflets and canvass cards make up most of the remainder.

Newspaper and bus shelter advertising makes up a smaller slice, with spending led by the Green Party’s Janet Horner, who spent €3,965 on bus shelter ads and €2,060 on local newspaper ads. Horner spent €15,528 overall.

Social Democrats candidate Daniel Ennis follows closely behind, having spent €2,502 on bus stop advertising (and €11,304 overall).

Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan, currently leading the polls in Dublin Central at 21%, spent €12,176.

Her largest single outlay was a €4,729 election poster run. She also classified a €3,857 constituency newsletter and a €570 poster featuring herself and Mary Lou McDonald as “pre-election expenditure”, a category with a specific legal definition that parties use for campaign-related activity outside the formal election period.

Fianna Fáil’s John Stephens, who is polling at just 4%, spent €18,050, the second-highest amount in the constituency.

His return includes €846 on campaign clothing and €605 on lapel stickers, alongside more standard costs like posters and canvass cards.

Labour’s Ruth O’Dea kept costs lean at €8,700, with the bulk going on election posters (€8,160).

People Before Profit’s Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin spent a bit more overall (€10,939), with his biggest single spend (€3,302) going towards a newsletter.

Aontú’s Ian Noel Smyth spent the least among declared party candidates at €5,405.

A number of independent candidates, including Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch and councillors Mannix Flynn and Malachy Steenson are also contesting the byelection, but we could not find any pages tracking spending figures for their campaigns.

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Galway West

In Galway West, Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne has run the most expensive campaign, which cost €39,033.

This is nearly €11,000 more than his nearest rival, Fianna Fáil’s Cillian Keane.

Kyne’s spending is notably varied. Alongside the expected election posters and newsletters, he spent €1,399 on a car wrap, €799.50 on a banner ad on GalwayBayFM.ie, and produced six separate newsletters targeting different parts of the constituency, from Galway City to North Connemara.

He also ran ads in both the Galway Advertiser and the Connacht Tribune.

Kyne currently leads the polls in Galway West at 17%.

Fianna Fáil’s Keane spent €28,233 but is polling at just 8%, a notable gap.

His expenses include almost €1,800 on campaign clothing across two separate purchases, a €1,100 car wrap, and €500 on a rental car.

Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas, narrowly polling in second at 16%, achieved that with a comparatively efficient €15,005, leaning heavily on repeated Galway Advertiser and Connacht Tribune newspaper ads (10 across the campaign), alongside a €4,840 election poster spend and a €2,196 car wrap.

Labour’s Helen Ogbu, polling third at 12%, spent €15,351, including a late-campaign €4,920 “byelection wrap.”

At the other end of the scale, the Green Party’s Niall Murphy spent just €2,498 (this included election leaflets and posters), while People Before Profit’s Denman Rooke came in at €2,827. Both parties spent significantly less on their Galway candidates compared to their Dublin ones.

On a similar note to Dublin Central, there’s plenty of independent candidates contesting the byelection in Galway – including Sheila Garrity, Thomas Welby, Néill Bairéad and Mike Cubbard – but their spending figures for their respective byelection campaigns are not available anywhere online.

Overall spending

Spending on online advertising does not factor into the spending for basically all candidates involved in both elections any more, as highlighted by Liz Carolan.

“I think when you look at the big spenders like Fine Gael, for example, they don’t tend to do well in social media without throwing money behind it. They don’t have a natural constituency on TikTok for example,” Carolan said.

Fine Gael candidate Seán Kyne’s €799.50 banner on GalwayBayFM.ie is the only declared online spend across both constituencies.

Carolan added that most parties don’t view online campaign spending as worth their time.

“The algorithms for social media platforms are all geared away from the kind of things that candidates will want to talk about, so they would have to pay to get viewers and engagement, which parties just do not view as worth their time for a byelection,” Carolan said.

In addition to this, the EU introduced regulations around political advertising in November last year. It means that paid or targeted political advertisements must now clearly identify who paid for them, how much was spent, which election or referendum they relate to, and whether targeting techniques were used to reach specific audiences.

The law has meant that parties have been further disillusioned from spending big on online advertising.

Instead, cross both constituencies, election posters remain the single biggest line item for almost every candidate.

Leaflets and canvass cards follow close behind.

Newspaper advertising features more prominently in Galway West, where local titles like the Galway Advertiser and the Connacht Tribune carry more weight in reaching voters outside the city.

Byelection spending figures can be found for each party here:

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