The Fianna Fáil grass roots spent the weekend agonising how the party might be rebuilt. The rubble that comprises its Dublin operation seems to be mortally wounded.
Dublin accounts for 807,000 of the nation’s 3.2 million voters – just over 25% of the total. It accounts for 47 of the 166 Dáil seats and in the 2007 general election Fianna Fáil captured 19 of these with 196,029 first preference votes. It achieved 67,836 first preference votes in last year’s general election and the late Brian Lenihan captured the party’s only Dublin seat.
The meltdown was pervasive and dramatic:
| Constituency | 1st Preference Votes 2007 | 1st Preference Votes 2011 |
| Dublin Central | 15,398 | 5,141 |
| Dublin Mid-West | 12,321 | 5,043 |
| Dublin North | 22,998 | 7,634 |
| Dublin | 16,029 | 5,017 |
| Dublin North-East | 13,864 | 4,794 |
| Dublin North-West | 15,124 | 3,869 |
| Dublin South | 25,298 | 6,844 |
| Dublin South-Central | 15,725 | 4,837 |
| Dublin South-East | 9,720 | 3,922 |
| Dublin South-West | 16,355 | 5,509 |
| Dublin West | 12,726 | 7,044 |
| Dun Laoghaire | 20,471 | 8,632 |
| TOTAL | 196,029 | 67,836 |
Fianna Fáil raised €820,726 in its national collection during the three-year period 2009-2011 and the Party’s twelve Dublin constituency organisations accounted for €4,669 of this. Another source of finance is the Party’s Superdraw which raised €531,750 last year and the Dublin organisation accounted for €70,600 of this.
A reluctance to raise money did not stop Fianna Fáil spending a fortune in its Dublin constituencies last year. The general election cost Fianna Fáil €2,138,792, equivalent to almost €107,000 per seat won – compared to €47,405 per seat won in 2007.
| Constituency | Total Expenditure – General Election 2011, € | Spend per Vote, € |
| Dublin Central | €37,605 | €7.30 |
| Dublin Mid-West | €12,013 | €2.38 |
| Dublin North | €47,829 | €6.27 |
| Dublin | €20,185 | €4.02 |
| Dublin North-East | €17,761 | €3.70 |
| Dublin North-West | €22,156 | €5.73 |
| Dublin South | €33,545 | €4.90 |
| Dublin South-Central | €29,509 | €6.10 |
| Dublin South-East | €20,291 | €5.17 |
| Dublin South-West | €35,497 | €7.02 |
| Dublin West | €28,518 | €4.05 |
| Dun Laoghaire | €41,295 | €4.78 |
| TOTAL DUBLIN SPEND | €346,110 | €5.10 |
| FIANNA FAIL NATIONAL SPEND | €2,138,792 | €5.52 |
Fianna Fáil generated income of €1.022 million last year from draws, national collection, donor contributions and membership fees. But the taxpayer provided a further €1.3 million under the Electoral Acts and between 2007 and 2010 the Parliamentary Party Leadership Allowance added a further €31.88 million from the taxpayer – begging the question whether political parties in Ireland have effectively become semi-state bodies.
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