Candidates and parties spent €9.24 million during three weeks of campaigning in last year's general election, according to the Standards in Public Office Commission.
Fifty-six candidates, including the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, breached spending limits - though none did so when the cost of Oireachtas facilities enjoyed by outgoing TDs are excluded.
However, the commission's report is unlikely to lead to a successful court challenge to the election results by narrowly defeated candidates.
Ms Kathy Sinnott in Cork South Central lost by six votes to Fianna Fáil's Mr John Dennehy, who spent €17,123 locally and €6,677 into FF's national budget.
Meanwhile, Independent TD Ms Mildred Fox, who beat Labour's Mr Nicky Kelly in Wicklow by just 19 votes, spent €31,115 - below her allowed figure of €38,092.
The Supreme Court ruled on May 16th that Oireachtas facilities should be included after Fianna Fáil Dublin Mid-West candidate Mr Des Kelly took a case.
Mr Kelly argued that outgoing Oireachtas members were favoured over others because they were able to draw on Oireachtas post, telephones, secretaries, etc.
Candidates in three-seat constituencies were allowed to spend €25,394.76 each - less any amount they assigned to their party's national campaign. Those contesting four-seaters could spend €31,743.45, while those in five-seaters were allowed €38,092.14 - but, again, amounts assigned to their party's national campaign had to be deducted.
Comparisons are difficult because each candidate appears to have been left with different sums for their local campaigns by national party headquarters.
Fianna Fáil Minister of State Mr Jim McDaid breached limits because he was allocated just €12,697 to run in Donegal North-East, rather than the €25,395 allowed under law.
However, the ethics legislation does not cover spending by political parties before the election was called last April, particularly by Fianna Fáil.
Nine thousand pages of declarations were received from 472 candidate election agents, 10 national agents and 13 from others unconnected to either a party or a candidate. The quality varied. "Some of the material was in an appalling situation. We had to go back to scratch in many cases," said the commission yesterday.
The majority of the current Cabinet exceeded the spending limits once the impact of the Kelly judgment was factored in by the commission's 10 staff.
Fianna Fáil allocated €15,871 to the Taoiseach to run in Dublin Central, though his total spend - including the cost of facilities enjoyed as Taoiseach - was €32,093.
Figures given by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan's election agent were changed minutes after the document was published.
The agent, Mr Vincent Breslin, had estimated her spend at €48,969, though her Donegal South West budget had been set by Fianna Fáil at €12,697.
However, the Minister contacted the commission immediately to say that her agent had made a mistake filling in the forms and would send in a corrected version. The agent estimated that Ms Coughlan, then a Minister of State, received €35,997 worth of support from her office, rather than a correct figure of €9,561, said her spokesman.
