An IDA Ireland board member spent more than €28,000 in an unsuccessful local election campaign for Fianna Fáil in north inner city Dublin, it has emerged.
Businessman Mr Nial Ring was chosen to run in the ward last spring after the then lord mayor Mr Royston Brady was nominated to contest the European election and opted not to contest his seat on Dublin City Council.
His election expenditure was the highest in the Dublin City Council area, where 137 candidates declared spending some €796,000 in their campaigns. Many candidates with big budgets failed to be elected, new figures reveal.
A council spokeswoman said there was no restriction on election spending once the expenditure was declared.
Mr Ring said yesterday he did not regret spending €28,123 of his "personal" money and only narrowly missed taking the fifth seat in the ward. He entered the race 10 weeks from polling day, leaving him "1½ years behind" other candidates.
"Tongue in cheek, at least I topped one poll. I had to run a high-profile campaign," he said. "I'm well known in some parts of the ward but not in others so I had to get the profile up.
"As an accountant and board director of IDA Ireland, I'm going to report every single penny. I kept very good records."
Figures released to the Sunday Business Post indicate that the candidate with the second-highest campaign expenditure also failed to be elected.
PD candidate Mr Tony Williams, who contested the Rathmines ward, spent €18,948 on his campaign. The party's only successful candidate for Dublin City Council, Ms Wendy Hederman, spent €16,640 on her campaign in the Pembroke ward.
While the figures indicate that a successful Fine Gael candidate, Mr Brian Gillen, spent €16,788 on his campaign, other big spenders failed to be elected.
Unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidates who ran expensive campaigns included: Mr Jim O'Callaghan (€12,991), Mr Pat Bunce (€15,214) and Mr John Stafford in Clontarf (€12,759).
Mr John Barry of Fine Gael spent €11,200 and failed to be elected, while Ms Sinéad Seery of Labour spent €11,180 and failed to take a seat in the Artane ward.
