Online spending by parties and candidates ramped up in Cork before election was declared 

Online election spending by parties and candidates in Cork has accelerated significantly since it became clear that a general election would be held by the end of November.

While Sinn Féin spent €6,588 in the past three months, Fine Gael, in the space of a week, has almost caught up with a spend of €6,013, the vast bulk of this amount being forked out in the last week before Taoiseach Simon Harris sought the dissolution of the Dáil.

This spending has taken place in the period of August 10 to November 7, before the date the general election was officially declared but also a period during which it became increasingly likely it would be called for a date during November.

According to regulations, posters cannot be put up before the election is called but these regulations don’t apply to social media. 

Also, politicians can argue they are conducting ‘awareness’ campaigns in the same way that some candidates have posters well in advance of the dissolution of the Dáil advertising public meetings or clinics.

In the week leading up to November 7, the spending had ramped up noticeably in advance of the campaign starting officially. 

According to the figures provided by Meta, which include spending on advertising on Facebook and Instagram, Fine Gael spent €5,682 on advertising in Cork during this period while Sinn Féin’s spend was €523, meaning the vast bulk of Fine Gael’s spending over the past three months was before the last week.

It’s not just the bigger parties that are splashing out on political advertising online. 

Smaller parties and individual candidates are also using the internet.

Mick Barry, of People Before Profit/Solidarity, spent €495 over the November 3-10 period and €1900 since August 10.

Speaking to The Echo, the Cork North-Central TD said he expected Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Sinn Féin to take a seat each in the five-seater, leaving a tough fight for the remaining two seats.

“A candidate who doesn’t take social media seriously is a candidate who goes into a fight such as that with one hand tied behind his or her back,” he said.

“Mallow and Ballincollig are new to the Cork North-Central constituency,” he said.

“The big parties have all run there before — I haven’t. So I have to play catch-up in those areas and targeted social media ads is one way for me to do it.”

He also said it was wise to spend money on social media ads targeting young people —when you knock on a door, you’re far more likely to end up talking to a mother or father rather than the younger people in a house.

He added: “If you want to get your messages out to younger people, you have to use Instagram and boost your Instagram messages from time to time.”

He said he had spent some more money on online advertising since the beginning of this week but added that he would also be using the tried-and-tested methods of posters, traditional media, and advertising as well as door-to-door canvassing.

Cork South-Central candidate for Fine Gael Shane O’Callaghan said he was active on the different social media platforms and would be setting aside a budget for spending online during this campaign.

He added: “I certainly would — that’s the plan anyway. I’d have to look at the restrictions on how much can spend.”

The spending to highlight preferred issues by different parties has been under way all summer but has begun to increase since August, according to a Cork-based consultant on social media and the internet.

Damien Mulley, who has been running a social media/internet consultancy for several years, provided analysis to The Echo of the online spending by candidates in this summer’s local and European Parliament elections. 

He has noted the stepping up by political parties of their online spending in the last week as it became clearer that polling day for the general election would be on November 29.

“There were a lot of ads from Fine Gael in which Simon Harris was introducing different candidates for the party, while Sinn Féin were doing a lot of their spending around the launches of their housing and health policies in recent weeks. 

“There’s no evidence yet of the attack ads you see in American politics,” he said.

In the 90-day period from August 10 to November 7, before the campaign got under way officially, Sinn Féin spent more than other parties. According to the figures supplied by Meta on its ad transparency tool, the party spent €78,288 on 284 ads which were posted by the party on Facebook. 

The figures for the same period for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are €41,034 and €14,144 respectively. 

The cost of online advertising depends on the reach of an ad — how wide is your target audience... the wider the audience, the greater the spend.

In the 90-day period up to May 20, two weeks before the June 8 poll, Sinn Féin had spent €55,114 on online advertising on Meta compared to €7,883 for 56 ads spent by Fine Gael, while Fianna Fáil’s spend was €11,329 for 333 ads — many of these were targeted at local areas. 

Individual candidates for the different parties also racked up considerable spending. Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, of Fianna Fáil, spent €11,921 during that 90-day period, more than her party did.

There are spending limits for candidates in this coming general election but these were increased in the past few weeks quite considerably due to inflation since the last general election.

Under the new limits, a candidate in a three-seater constituency can spend up to €38,900, it’s €48,500 in a four-seater, while €58,350 is the limit in a five-seater. This is up 29% on the 2020 limits.

If a candidate’s vote exceeds 25% of the quota, they can claim reimbursement of their election expenses up to €11,200, which is also up 29% on the 2020 figure. 

It’s important to note that only a portion of this spending will be on online advertising but it could be a sizeable chunk of change — if not cryptocurrency — all the same. 

Over the next few weeks, every available prominent pole in your neighbourhood and the social media platforms you frequent are about to get a great deal busier.