1- Ireland's spendings in this category were almost (doubled) 2- 'kept within a range' is fine. but you can use more expressive words like: 'figures were determined to be within a range..' and you have to use 'were' before kept: all the figures (were) kept within a range..

1. It should be "almost doubled". "Double" is the present tense, which doesn't work in the sentence because you used the word "were" which denotes the past tense, meaning it already happened and isn't happening currently. 2. "Kept within a range" is fine, no need to change anything. :)

[1] This can go both ways. For example: In this category, Ireland's spending has almost doubled from last year. {verb} In this category, Ireland's spending was almost double that of last year. {adjective} However, you definitely should not write "the double". [2] This sentence is fine, I think. I would say, "were kept between five and seven percent."