McEntee tops Meath East spending list

A total of €106,653.42 was spent by candidates in the Meath East byelection in March with Fine Gael's successful candidate Helen McEntee spending the most.

In a report published this morning, the Standards in Public Office Commission said the total amount of donations disclosed by election agents and national agentswas €763.

It said there was no evidence that any election agent or national agent overspending at the election.

The spending limit per candidate in Meath East was €31,150. The highest

expenditure was on behalf of Ms McEntee (€29,842.59), who took the seat vacated by her late father Shane.

The next highest spend was on Thomas Byrne, of Fianna Fáil (€28,913.57), followed by Eoin Holmes of Labour Party (€23,988.64) and Darren O'Rourke of Sinn Féin (€15,450.85).

The value of the only donation disclosed was €763.00 to Séamus McDonagh of the Workers Party

A total of €34,800.00 will be paid by the Exchequer to the four candidates Ms McEntee, Mr Byrne, Mr Gilroy and Mr O’Rourke who qualify for the maximum reimbursement of €8,700 each.

Two candidates, Ben Gilroy and Mick Martin, and one election/national agent Conor Delgarno were referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for failing to furnish the Commission with the required statutory documentation by May 22nd, 2013.

Sipo said Mr Martin subsequently satisfactorily furnished the required statutory documentation by June 6th, 2013.