More than €200,000 of State funding was spent by Fine Gael on opinion polling and focus groups last year, ahead of last February’s general election, writes Daniel McConnell.

Figures published by the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) show that during 2015, the party spent more than €100,000 on its website and social media services.

According to SIPO, Fine Gael received €2,394,394 in 2015 with €889,033 carried over from 2014, making the party’s spend for last year €3,283,427.

The figures show that €251,425 went on policy formulation, €178,604 on consultants’ services and €205,611 on polling or public attitude sampling.