Cork candidates spent more than €332k between them on general election campaigns
Seven of the 10 biggest spenders were candidates from government parties in the last general election. Picture: Dan Linehan.
The highest election spend in Cork was People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Mick Barry, who lost his seat by less than 40 votes to Labour’s Eoghan Kenny in the North Central constituency after spending €34,795.
Mr Kenny spent €7,150 on his election bid, while his party colleague and city councillor John Maher, who was not elected to the Dáil, spent €13,568. Of candidates elected, the highest spend in the constituency was Fine Gael’s Colm Burke on €22,704, followed by Independent Ireland’s Ken O’Flynn’s €15,209, Fianna Fáil’s Padraig O’Sullivan’s €14,262, and Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould’s €12,494.
Mr Gould’s running mate, Joe Lynch, spent €13,067. Fianna Fáil’s Tony Fitzgerald, who polled fifth highest on first preferences, but placed behind Mr Kenny and Mr Barry after transfers were distributed, spent the second-highest in the constituency with €23,099, while the party’s third candidate, Sandra Murphy Kelleher, incurred expenses of just €4,801.
Fine Gael also ran two candidates besides Mr Burke: Now-senator Garret Kelleher who spent €14,935, and Imelda Daly, who spent €12,109.
The Social Democrats ran two candidates, neither of whom were elected: Susan Doyle, who spent €10,515; and Ciaran McCarthy, who spent €3,929.
In Cork South Central, the biggest spender was Fine Gael’s Jerry Buttimer with €24,976 — just marginally more than the party’s Shane O’Callaghan at €24,890.
Mr Buttimer, who had been a TD prior to 2016, and Mr O’Callaghan, a poll-topping councillor, were in competition largely with each other as a Fine Gael seat was almost a certainty after Simon Coveney stepped down.
The party ran a third candidate, Carrigaline councillor Una McCarthy, who spent €13,158.
Mr O’Callaghan wound up placing sixth in the election, with the seventh place candidate having the third highest spend, Labour’s Laura Harmon at €22,656, while Independent former lord mayor Mick Finn, who placed eighth, spent €17,413. This was more than most Independent candidates in the county.
Fianna Fáil’s Séamus McGrath, brother of former TD and current European commissioner Michael, spent €18,545.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin incurred expenses of €12,183.
Both were elected, while the party’s unsuccessful third candidate, Margaret Kenneally, had expenses of just €6,005. The other two successful candidates, Social Democrats former councillor Pádraig Rice and Sinn Féin incumbent Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, had expenses of €14,839 and €11,415 respectively.
Mr Ó Laoghaire’s running mate, Michelle Cowhey Shahid, spent just €8,377.
In Cork East, Pat Buckley had the lowest spend of any successful candidate in Cork, and the second-lowest in Ireland, at just €5,328.
Fianna Fáil’s James O’Connor, also an incumbent TD for the constituency who was successful in his re-election bid, spent €28,323 — the highest of any successful candidate in Cork. His party colleague, councillor Deirdre O’Brien, spent €13,003 but was not elected.
Former councillor for the party turned Independent William O’Leary spent €14,396, while Independent councillor and current County Mayor, Mary Linehan Foley, spent €9,631.
Neither were elected.
Fine Gael’s former councillor Noel McCarthy spent €15,988 on a successful election bid, while the party’s Mark Stanton, son of retiring TD David, expended €18,543 on an unsuccessful one.
The fourth candidate elected was the Social Democrats’ Liam Quaide, whose expenses came to €18,718.
In Cork South West, the highest spend was by Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, who successfully retained her seat after spending €27,439.
The competitive constituency saw Fianna Fáil incumbent Christopher O’Sullivan spend €22,632 to retain his seat, while former Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard and current senator Noel O’Donovan were both unsuccessful after spending €17,017 and €24,503 respectively.
Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins spent €14,669 to top the poll and retain his seat, while Independent councillor Alan Coleman, who placed sixth, had expenses of €9,021. Sinn Féin ran two candidates, who placed seventh and eighth, and both had expenses of less than €2,500.
Cork North West, which had the fewest candidates of any Cork constituency, saw Fianna Fáil’s Aindrias Moynihan and Michael Moynihan keep their seats with expenses of €12,762 and €20,663 respectively.
Fine Gael’s Michael Creed had announced that he would not be seeking re-election, and his cousin and party councillor, also named Michael Creed, contested the election unsuccessfully with €11,936 in expenses.
The third seat went to the party’s councillor John Paul O’Shea, who spent marginally less at €11,810.
Also unsuccessful was Aontú’s Becky Kealy, who spent a significant €19,687, considerably more than any of the party’s other Cork candidates.
Sinn Féin’s now-senator Nicole Ryan also ran unsuccessfully with just €2,935 in expenses.
Cork’s 20 elected TDs spent a combined €332,108 on their election bids, or an average of €16,605.
Overall, the highest spender in Cork was Mick Barry, followed by James O’Connor, Holly Cairns, Jerry Buttimer, Shane O’Callaghan, Noel O’Donovan, Tony Fitzgerald, Colm Burke, Laura Harmon, and Christopher O’Sullivan.
Just half of these were successful in their pursuit of a Dáil seat.
Out of those elected, just three spent little enough to get full expenses back. The lowest spender by far of those was Sinn Féin’s Pat Buckley, who spent less than half the next lowest candidate.
Sinn Féin elected TDs made up three of the top four lowest spends, with Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire placing second and Thomas Gould placing fourth.
Incumbency can assist in a re-election campaign, but two of Cork’s three highest spenders were running to keep their seat.
Newcomer Fine Gael’s John Paul O’Shea spent the third-lowest for a successful election bid, while Taoiseach Micheál Martin was fifth.
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