71 candidates clock up £63k in local election expenses

71 candidates clock up £63k in local election expenses

19 June 2019

THE 71 candidates who contested the May local government election to secure the 41 seats up for grabs on Newry, Mourne and Down Council spent a total of almost £63,000.

Figures released this week for the seven electoral areas reveal that the highest spender was 

Ulster Unionist Harold McKee who shelled out £1,632 to retain the party seat in the Mournes area.

The highest total spend across the seven district electoral areas was in Crotlieve, with the 13 candidates spending a total of £11,166, while the lowest spend in Newry, with nine candidates spending a total of almost £7,062.

Locally, the respective candidates’ spend for the Downpatrick, Slieve Croob, Mournes and Rowallane areas was £8,095.64, £8,206.83, £10,077.56 and 9,309.14 respectively. 

The total amount spent by the 10 Slieve Gullion candidates was £8,890.10. 

Green Party candidates Jamie Kennedy (Downpatrick) and Emma Cairns (Rowallane) did not spend a penny, neither did the DUP’s Wilma McCullough in Crotlieve.

In Downpatrick, Aontú’s Macartan Digney — who was contesting his first election but failed to secure a seat — was the top spender, forking out £1,171.46, which was only £37 more than Ulster Unionist Alexander Burgess who also failed to secure a seat.

Digney and Burgess were the only two candidates in the Downpatrick DEA to take their election spend over £1,000. The DUP’s James Savage was the lowest spender on £174.

Independent candidate Martyn Todd (£1,315) was the highest spender in Rowallane. The former Down Council director, who failed to secure a seat, was one of five candidates who spent more than £1,000.

The others were Sinn Fein’s Marianne Cleary (£1,219.19), the SDLP’s Terry Andrews (£1,145.61), Aontú’s Liam Mulhern (£1,111.95) and Alliance’s Patrick Brown (£1,111.94).

Ulster Unionist Alan Lewis, who secured the first ever seat for the party in Slieve Croob, was the top spender in this area on £1,315.50 — just £5 ahead of DUP candidate Maynard Hanna who failed to retain the seat previously held by Garth Craig.

Aontú’s Tracy Harkin (£1,111.95) was the third highest spender in Slieve Croob with Alliance’s Gregory Bain, who retained the seat previously held by party colleague Andy McMurray, the lowest spender on £362.34.

The Mournes’ top spender, Mr McKee was a member of the local authority when it was formed in 2014 but subsequently stood down following his election to the Assembly. He then lost his seat and returned to the local authority last month to replace Jill Macauley.

Other top spenders in the Mournes include the DUP’s Glyn Hanna, who spent £168 less than Mr McKee, and Sinn Fein’s Willie Clarke, Sean Doran and Leeanne McEvoy, who spent £1,034,53, £1,041.53 and £1,041.53 respectively. 

Independent Unionist Henry Reilly spent £1,116 with defeated SDLP candidate Brian Quinn spending £1,072.60. The lowest spender was Mr Quinn’s party colleague Laura Devlin. She spent £804.66.

The joint top spenders in the Newry DEA were SDLP duo Gary Stokes and Michael Savage, with Independent Mark Gibbons the stop spender in Crotlieve. His total election expenses were £1,450.80.

In Slieve Gullion DEA, the SDLP’s newly appointed group leader on the council, Pete Byrne, was the top spender on £1,182.

Copies of the candidates’ election expenses are available to view at the local authority’s Newry base at Monaghan Row in Newry between 10am and 4pm until June 17, 2020. Copies are also available priced 20p per page.

• See advert showing council election candidates’ expenses returns on P38.