Revealed – cost of a County Council seat
Aspiring politicians who want to top the poll in the local elections and spend relatively little money in the process could do worse than have a chat with Cllr. Timmy Broderick in Kilconnell.
The publican received one of the biggest first preferences in the whole of the country and spent the least amount of money of all of the councillors elected onto Galway County Council.
For the princely sum of €1,270, Broderick was comfortably re-elected with almost 3,300 first preferences – this was around 1,200 votes ahead of his nearest rival.
The 71 candidates standing in last May’s local elections in County Galway spent more than a quarter of a million euro in their efforts to get elected by the public.
In the end there were 39 successful candidates but the performance of Cllr Timmy Broderick has got most of his colleagues on the Council talking.
But there is a good reason why he spent the least of all those elected. Broderick ran in the 2011 general election and while he received a strong vote, he didn’t get elected.
However, he used the same posters in the local elections as he did in the general election which kept costs well down.
“My posters came from KPW in Ballinasloe, a local firm and a great employer, and obviously they were of such a quality that they stood the test of time.
“Having run in previous elections is certainly a help when it comes to cutting down on costs. But at the end of the day, it is down to the public. They ultimately decide who gets into office,” Cllr Broderick added.
The biggest spender in the local elections happened to be a candidate who did not get elected. Ronan Garvey, who owns three hostels and is heavily involved in the tourism industry, spent more than €12,500 in his election bid for the Connemara area
That was €7,000 more than Cllr. Eileen Mannion of Fine Gael who was the next highest spender and succeeded in retaining her seat.
Interestingly, former councillor Pat O’Sullivan of Fianna Fail had the biggest election bill in the Ballinasloe area and he too did not get elected. However, it was nothing like the bill accumulated by Ronan Garvey.
In contrast, all of the top spenders in the Loughrea Municipal District got elected as Donagh Killilea of Fianna Fail had the distinction of being the highest spender in Galway to get over the line.
Killilea, son of former MEP Mark Killilea, spent more than €11,000 in his bid to get elected in the Tuam Municipal District. It is now understood that he may have designs on running for the Dail in 2016.
Most of the candidates standing for political parties got a contribution but it was interesting that Connemara Fianna Fail councillor Seamus Walsh boldly wrote in his expenses return to Galway County Council that it was “all my own money”.