Just under u£2.2 million was spent by the 42 candidates who contested the European elections in June, at an average cost of u £1.58 for every vote cast.
Figures published by the Public Offices Commission also indicate that the 28 successful candidates qualify for expenditure refunds at a cost to the Exchequer of £833,744.
Fianna Fail and its eight candidates were the largest spenders, having an outlay of £705,540. Fine Gael and its seven candidates had a total outlay of £663,605. The combined expenditure by the Labour Party and its four candidates was £350,739, while the nine independent candidates in the four European constituencies spent £213,826.
The top-spending candidate was Mr Ben Briscoe (FF), ail whose outlay of £133,181 put a price tag of £5.31 on every vote he received in the Dublin constituency. Mr Briscoe incurred some of the more unusual expense outlays of any of the 42 candidates.
Included in his expenses return was an invoice from Louis Copeland for u £2,635. For this the Dublin South Central TD got various items of clothing, including a raincoat and ties and suits for himself and two of his election workers. He ail politician was certainty not in the league of his former leader, Mr Haughey. Obviously of more modest tastes than Charvet of Paris, Mr Briscoe spent £234 on six shirts in the store. He also listed expenses on spectacles of £850.
The figures show that the big spenders were also the big losers. As well as Mr Briscoe, who spent most in Dublin and failed to get elected, a similar fate met Fine Gael's Mr Alan Gillis in Leinster, who spent £79,228, and the Minister of State, Mr Sean Treacy, of Fianna Fail, whose campaign in Connacht-Ulster cost £92,224.
However, in Munster Mr Brian Crowley, who was successful in his attempt to be re-elected to the European Parliament, was the top spender. At an outlay of £94,430 Mr Crowley had a very cost-effective campaign, with each of his 154,195 first-preference votes costing a mere £0.61.
The European elections were the first national contest where limits applied to the money political parties and candidates could spend. The statutory limit for the recent European elections was a maximum of £150,000 per candidate.
Under the 1997 Electoral Act the 42 candidates and the eight political parties in the European contest had to file details of all expenses incurred in the election.
The 42 candidates spent £1,341,748, with their parties contributing a further £741,547 to their campaigns. The parties also spent a further £113,058 on manifestos and campaign launches which were not related to any specific candidate.
