Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The commission has stated that its experts have been involved in carrying out testing. It has examined the voting machines and the counting software, including the parallel testing and can confirm that the system can accurately and concisely record voter preferences. The commission has not been able, within the timeframe of its report, to satisfy itself sufficiently as to the accuracy and secrecy of the system to be deployed in June for three reasons: the count and management software has been updated many times during the past three years and the impact of these successive modifications cannot be fully tested in the period set out; it has not been possible for it to obtain access to the full system source code — a matter which has since been dealt with; and, the system has not been certified as being suitable to use in the Irish context by an accredited testing and certification authority.

For those reasons, additional time for testing of the system is required. The company involved is an internationally tested, reputable company which must convince the commission of the validity of all its operations. That will take some months. In the meantime, the system will not be used in the forthcoming elections. The Government will ensure all issues raised by the commission and its advisers will be satisfactorily dealt with. It is unfortunate the system will not be used in the forthcoming elections. However, elections come and go and the machines, when rectified to the commission's satisfaction, will be used in subsequent elections.

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