The former Dublin Lord Mayor, Mr Royston Brady, spent almost €200,000 in his unsuccessful campaign for Fianna Fáil in the European Parliament election last June, according to new figures.
Declarations made to the Standards in Public Office Commission also indicate that the newly-elected Fine Gael MEPs, Ms Mairéad McGuinness and Mr Gay Mitchell, had the highest-spending campaigns of all candidates.
Mr Brady's director of elections, Mr Rory Scanlan, declined to quantify Mr Brady's outstanding liabilities, but said his team hoped to conduct a further fund-raising drive.
"We will pay it as quickly as we possibly can. There's no issue about anyone getting paid. They'll all be paid."
Figures the commission published yesterday indicate that Mr Brady raised donations worth some €40,713 during the campaign.
While this sum was more than any other unsuccessful candidate, it does not include any donations worth less than €637.87. Having received more than a quarter of the quota in the election, Mr Brady is also entitled to a State reimbursement of €38,092.42 in election expenses, the maximum available.
The State will spend a total of €1.02 million reimbursing all candidates who reached the support threshold required for such funding.
Those who gave money to Mr Brady include the owner of the Renault franchise in Ireland, Mr Bill Cullen, who contributed €1,000 to the campaign.
Many other donors gave €2,500 to the campaign. They were: Greencastle Investments; Mr Nick Hughes; Malburn Ltd; Mr Barry Sheridan; Shelbourne Developments; P Allen & Associates; AK Kenna; Mr Brian Rowe; Mr Peter Bastable; Mr Chris Allen; Newlyn Developments; and Jeykala Consultants.
While the MEPs elected last June do not have to make donation statements until next January, the commission gave figures yesterday for MEPs' expenditure in their campaigns.
Ms McGuinness spent €225,139 on her campaign for Fine Gael, the highest individual spend. The expenditure of the other Fine Gael MEPs was: Mr Gay Mitchell (€223,545); Ms Avril Doyle (€183,171); Mr Simon Coveney (€176,779) and Mr Jim Higgins (€106,363).
The former Fine Gael TD Ms Madeleine Taylor-Quinn spent €96,577 on her unsuccessful campaign in the European election.
Mr Eoin Ryan MEP spent €197,822 and Mr Brian Crowley MEP spent €121,450 in their Fianna Fáil campaigns.
Mr Seán Ó Neachtain MEP spent €116,380 and Mr Liam Aylward MEP spent €71,956 on their campaigns for the party.
The Labour MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, spent €206,187 while the Sinn Féin MEP, Ms Mary Lou McDonald, spent €112,303. Independent MEP Ms Marian Harkin spent €87,691 while the independent Ms Kathy Sinnott spent €48,798, the lowest spend of all the elected candidates.
The commission said it asked the Garda to investigate the failure of one independent candidate to furnish a donation statement.
Mr Gerard Hannan ran unsuccessfully in the South constituency. Other unsuccessful candidates spent significant sums on their campaigns.
These include the Fianna Fáil TD, Mr Seamus Kirk, who received €18,893 in donations and spent €173,193.
The former minister0, Dr Jim McDaid, raised €4,700 and spent €99,349.
The unsuccessful Labour candidate Mr Peter Cassells spent €180,283 and raised €2,200 in donations. Prof Ivana Bacik spent €131,879 on her campaign. She raised €12,007 in donations.
The former independent MEP, Ms Dana Rosemary Scallan, spent €80,676 on her unsuccessful campaign. She raised €7,000 in donations.
The former Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, spent €88,089 on her campaign. She declared a single donation of €2,539. Mr Joe Higgins TD, of the Socialist Party, spent €28,307 on his unsuccessful campaign.
The independent candidate, Mr Justin Barrett, spent €37,472 on his unsuccessful campaign. He declared donations of €13,018 from 10 individuals in Dublin, Galway, Roscommon, Longford and Cork.
