Almost €280,000 was spent by political parties during the Galway West and Dublin Central byelection campaigns on posters, leaflets, newspaper advertising and branding for election vehicles. New European Union regulations require the declaration of information on advertisements in real time, meaning the data is available much earlier than in previous elections. The parties have published information on their election spending on their websites. The disclosures show that a total of €154,000 was spent in Galway West and almost €126,000 was spent in Dublin Central. Unlike previous elections, there was almost no spending on online advertising.Google and Meta no longer run political advertising in the European Union after new regulations on political advertising came into force last year. Fine Gael has declared the most spending of any of the parties during the byelections – just under €72,300 – with almost €41,700 of this spent on the successful campaign to elect Seán Kyne in Galway West. [ Who is Seán Kyne? Fine Gael politician returns to the Dáil after Galway West byelection winOpens in new window ]The spend on his campaign included posters, several local newspaper advertisements, digital ads with Galway Bay FM and “car wrap” branding for Kyne’s campaign vehicle. Fianna Fáil disclosed spending of almost €48,400 across its unsuccessful campaigns to get councillors Cillian Keane and John Stephens elected in Galway West and Dublin Central respectively.The Social Democrats declared spending of more than €36,400. With its declarations for the most part excluding VAT, their actual outlay will have been higher.Other parties either included VAT figures or did not specify whether they were included. Some €15,700 of the Social Democrats’ spend was on Daniel Ennis’s successful bid for a Dáil seat in Dublin Central. A further €20,700 was spent on its campaign in Galway West, where its candidate, Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich, fell short of wining the seat. Sinn Féin declared spending of just under €32,400 across its unsuccessful bids to get Janice Boylan and Mark Lohan elected in Dublin and Galway respectively.The Labour Party published spending of almost €25,900 across its byelection campaigns.The Green Party declared just over €19,200, with the bulk of this – more than €16,500 – going on Janet Horner’s campaign in Dublin Central, where she finished third. Just under €2,700 was spent on Green candidate Niall Murphy’s bid to be elected in Galway West.A Green Party statement said the difference in spending was “a strategic decision by the party as we had recently held a seat in Dublin Central”.Aontú disclosed just over €16,000 in spending across the two constituencies. Independent Ireland’s website sets out spending of just over €15,000 on its campaign to get Noel Thomas elected in Galway West. He ended up coming second in the byelection. People Before Profit declared a total of just over €14,200 across the two by-elections.