Dublin West byelection winner Nulty spent less than rivals

THE WINNER of the Dublin West byelection Patrick Nulty spent the least among leading candidates during the election campaign, and recorded no donations.

Mr Nulty won the byelection last October standing as the Labour Party candidate. However, he voted against the budget in December and was expelled from the parliamentary party.

According to information supplied to the Standards in Public Office Commission by the candidates and their parties, a total of €26,739 was spent on behalf of Mr Nulty during the campaign.

The election expenses incurred by the constituency election agent for Mr Nulty came to €15,637 while the expenses of the Labour Party’s national election agent totalled €11,102.

The biggest-spending candidate in the byelection was Fianna Fáil’s David McGuinness, whose campaign cost €33,905.

The money came from the party’s national election agent and no donations were recorded. The second-highest spending candidate was Eithne Loftus, of Fine Gael, whose campaign cost €31,073.

She was followed by Ruth Coppinger of the Socialist Party, whose campaign cost €28,454.

The total spending of all 13 candidates combined disclosed to the commission amounted to €143,571.

Six of the candidates qualified for reimbursement of some of their expenses from the State. The top four qualified for the maximum payment of €8,700.