Unsuccessful European Parliament candidate for the Social Democrats, Sinéad Gibney, has said she personally lost €20,000 in her failed election bid, and even sold her car to part-fund her election campaign.
The former chief commissioner of NGO the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission stepped down from her job in her bid to become an MEP.
She secured 16,319 first preference votes in Dublin, finishing ninth. The four members elected in Dublin were Barry Andrews, Regina Doherty, Lynn Boylan, and Aodhan O’Riordan, with MEP Clare Daly dramatically losing her seat, and the Green Party’s Ciaran Cuffe also failing to get re-elected. Broadcaster Niall Boylan fell short of securing the fourth seat, losing out to Labour’s O’Riordan, but gaining an impressive 30,637 first preferences.
Ms Gibney narrowly missed the threshold for reimbursement of campaign expenses by 440 votes, meaning she will not be able to claim back any expenses. Candidates are entitled to apply for a reimbursement of election expenses up to €64,400 if they are elected at the election, or if they are not elected but they exceed a quarter of the quota [European Parliament Election (Reimbursement of Expenses) Regulations 1999 (S.I. No. 122/1999), Regulation 3(a)].
Under the Electoral Act 1997, a candidate must put forward a deposit of €1,800 to secure their position on the ballot paper. This deposit can, however, only be reimbursed if the individual running can gain enough votes during counting to hit at least a quarter of the quota in the constituency in which they are running.
A statutory spending limit of €230,000 applies. Ms Gibney said she spent roughly €60,000 on her campaign, which included €25,000 from the Social Democrats and €15,000 raised through online crowdfunding, meaning she contributed the other €20,000 herself.
There is as much as €64,400 available in reimbursement for candidates eligible to qualify, an amount which would have covered the cost of her campaign. Ms Gibney is a high profile example of how an unsuccessful election bid can end up costing candidates thousands, with the stakes higher when personal cash is involved.
In Dublin, the quota a candidate needed to reach to be elected was 75,345 – meaning that 18,836 votes were required to be exceeded to have expenses returned.
Gibney Finished the race with 18,396 after picking up 498 transfers by the 15th count – leaving her a mere 440 votes short.
While Niall Boylan said he was “obviously disappointed” he did not get elected, his 50,416 votes at the 19th count means that he far exceeded the quota to reclaim election expenses. The last seat was taken by Labour’s Ó Ríordáin who overtook Boylan after receiving a staggering 16,614 transfers from the Green’s Ciarán Cuffe – finishing with 63,26 votes.
People Before Profit’s Brid Smith will also be able to claim expenses back – after she finished in the race ahead of Gibney, with 25,759 votes.
The quota in the Midlands North West was 113,325, meaning candidates needed to receive 28,331 votes to be reimbursed. Outspoken Independent candidate Peter Casey, who was knocked out at the 14th count, managed to narrowly meet a quarter of the quota to be reimbursed, with his 28,497 overall votes.
Ms Gibney told RTE that she was “very disappointed” to not win a seat, and to finish where she did, but said that she was “very proud” of her campaign.
“I really was devastated,” she said. On missing the quota, she said: “We learned really when we heard the total of the first count that that was a possibility that we wouldn’t make it […] it is gut-wrenching, but it is also just the game. It is politics. You always know it’s a risk, and unfortunately in this case it’s come to pass.”
She said the personal impact was tough, telling RTE: “I put a lot on the line for this election. I sold my car to raise my own candidate investment.”
“The party had backed me, and then I did a really successful fundraising campaign during the election. All of that unfortunately now means it’s all gone, otherwise it would have been all returnable and would have allowed me to start from a better point to potentially launch a Dail run in the next few months, or whenever the general election is called. So really from a personal level it’s very tough.”
Speaking to The Irish Times, she said she was “proud” of her campaign and her contribution on immigration, which she described as “positive.” She told the paper she is “coming out of this feeling bruised but good about what lies ahead,” with plans to run for the Dáil in the general election.
In her campaign, Gibney said that communities in the capital were divided, and that “hate and division are on the rise.”
Candidates seeking to apply for reimbursement of election expenses are required to do so within 56 days.