From €8k to €21k: The cost of a successful general election campaign in Mayo
Securing a seat in the Dáil cost Mayo’s candidates an average of just over €14,000 in last year’s General Election, according to official expenses filed with the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO).
The expenditure statements for the county’s five TDs and one Senator show that the majority of spending went on marketing content including election materials, advertising and election posters. A total of €65,979 was spent between the six electoral candidates.
On average, candidates spent €14,138 each, with the most money being spent on ‘other election materials’. This category includes promotional materials such as: canvass cards, leaflets, manifestos, newsletters, websites, social media and other promotional items. Fine Gael Minister Alan Dillon spent the most in this category at €9,463, followed by Fianna Fáil Minister Dara Calleary at €7,540. Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh only spent €120 here.
Minister Calleary ran the most expensive campaign in the county, costing a total of €21,104. This included €5,611 on election posters and €5,069 on advertising. In total, 90c of his spend, €18,220, went on marketing including election materials, advertising and election posters. He was the only candidate in Mayo to use expenses met out of public funds, with €908.59 go towards ICT equipment, pre-paid envelopes and photocopying.
The second-highest spender was Minister Dillon, whose €18,849 campaign included €6,884 on advertising and €1,209 on office supplies and stationery. Minister Dillon was the only candidate who did not spend any money on election posters.
On the opposite side of the political spectrum, Sinn Fein TD Rose Conway-Walsh spent €8,398 on her campaign. Her largest expenditure was €2,661 on election posters, followed by €1,721 on advertising and €1,622 on election materials.
There were two new TDs in Mayo in the 2024 election. Fine Gael candidate Keira Keogh had a total spend of €10,889. She had the high transport and travel bill at €4,720, and spent €4,488 on advertising. Aontú candidate Paul Lawless spent a total of €13,861. Of this, €7,244 went towards election materials, €3,396 on election posters, and €1,722 on transport and travel.
Senator Mark Duffy’s Seanad campaign totalled €12,635. This included €4,574 on advertising and €4,258 on election materials. He also spent €1,200 on his campaign workers, the highest in the county, these went towards teas and coffees for his team. The other candidates who spent money on their campaign workers were Minister Dillon with €401, and Deputy Conway-Walsh with €170.
The figures highlight a sizable gap in campaign spending between candidates, with a €12,706 difference between the most and least expensive campaigns. Posters made up 31.5pc of total spending, followed by advertising at 26pc and election materials at 19pc, while transport and travel costs accounted for a notable 13pc of the €65,979 spent by Mayo’s electoral candidates in 2024. The figures offer an insight into how candidates spend their way to electoral success in Mayo.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.