Cash-strapped Greens can only spend €5,000 on Lisbon
Councillors from around the country yesterday launched a 'Five reasons to vote 'No' campaign against the Lisbon Treaty referendum at the UNITE offices in Dublin. They include four rebel Labour councillors
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Wednesday September 09 2009
A CASH-strapped Green Party has just €5,000 to spend on its Lisbon referendum campaign.
The junior coalition partner will feature among the lowest spenders on the Lisbon campaign, which will see it taking a pro-European stance in a referendum for the first time.
The €5,000 is just 3pc of what the party spent in the 2007 general election. At an average cost of €4.50, its has barely enough cash to print 1,000 posters for the entire country.
Unlike all of the other main political parties, the Greens' political grouping in Europe has refused to dig them out.
A party spokesperson said last night that "raising money from outside Ireland was feasible neither for the Irish Green Party, nor for our counterparts in other European countries".
"In common with all of the political parties, we have spent a lot of money already in 2009 on the local and European elections and are actively fundraising in preparation for the next set of elections," the spokesperson said.
Struggling
But the Greens are not the only political party struggling with finances for the Lisbon campaign.
Despite promises by all the main parties to treat the Lisbon campaign as if it were a general election, the levels of spending do not match.
Political parties spent a combined total of €11m on the last general election. This includes money provided by parties at national level and donations made to individual candidates. The total spend by parties on the Lisbon referendum will be a fraction of this amount.
In the 2007 general election, Fianna Fail headquarters spent €1.75m on getting the party back in power. This was aside from a further €1.85m spent by candidates.
A party spokesperson said last night that Fianna Fail would spend up to €750,000 on the Lisbon campaign, which includes money from the Liberal group in Brussels.
Fine Gael will invest €300,000 of its own resources in the Lisbon campaign, with a further €100,000 coming from its colleagues in Europe, the European People's Party. The party spent over €1m in the last general election.
Labour plans to spend €100,000 of its own cash, with an equal amount coming from its colleagues in Brussels. The party's own spend on Lisbon is 15pc of what it spent in the general election two years ago.
Sinn Fein admitted at its Lisbon launch that it is cash-strapped. The party spent €120,000 on the last Lisbon campaign but less will be spent this time out. It spent €65,000 on the general election, but when donations to candidates are added on, the figure rises to €685,000.
MEP Joe Higgins and his Socialist Party are getting just €15,000 from their friends in Europe. The party's poster and leaflet campaign will be practically confined to Dublin.
Despite opposition parties calling for the Government to get out of office, a general election in the near future would prove a financial nightmare for all political parties. A snap election would be almost sure to force every party to take out loans to fund a campaign, having emptied their war chests in the local and European elections last June.
A senior Fine Gael source last night said that Fine Gael was on election footing and expected its national draw to raise €1.2m in December.
"Assuming there is a snap election, any political party, no matter what it is, would find it very difficult to find more than €1m," the source said.
- Aidan O'Connor
