Do candidates in the by election have their expenses paid by the taxpayer?

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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Election expenses

Rules governing election expenses by political parties and candidates in Ireland.
www.citizensinformation.ie www.citizensinformation.ie

Reimbursements of election expenses​

Candidates can apply to have a portion of their allowable election expenses reimbursed under certain conditions.

General elections​

A candidate can have up to €8,700 reimbursed to them if their vote tally is at least 25% of the quota for the constituency. The quota is the number of votes a candidate must get to be elected.

I assume it's the same for a by election.

The quota will be 50%
So they will get €8,700 is they get 12 1/2% of the vote.



Brendan
 
Candidates who can't find 30 nominees must pay a deposit. But if they can't find 30 nominees, they are probably not going to get enough votes to get their deposit back.

From Wikipedia

Election deposit - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Republic of Ireland[edit source]​

In the Republic of Ireland, candidates for election to Dáil Éireann who have been nominated by political parties registered to contest Dáil elections, as well as non-party candidates who are able to provide detailed information of 30 electors in the constituency who have assented to their nomination, are not required to pay a deposit. Candidates who fail to meet either of these criteria, however, must pay a deposit of €500.[10] This follows a High Court ruling; the court found that the obligatory payment of deposits by all candidates was repugnant to the Constitution of Ireland.[11]

Candidates who paid the deposit are returned if their final vote total, under the single transferable vote electoral system, exceeds one-quarter of the Droop quota for their constituency; i.e. in a four-seat constituency, the quota is 20% therefore the deposit threshold is 5%. This is also the threshold that candidates' votes must exceed in order for them to claim an election expenses allowance from the State.
 
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