Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2004 confirms the policy objective of electronic voting and counting at Irish elections and that maintains the mandate to my Department from the Oireachtas to work towards implementation of this objective.

In this context, my Department is developing, in parallel with the continuing work of the Commission on Electronic Voting, a programme for further assessment, testing and validation which is intended to address the concerns raised in the commission's interim report published last April and in its more detailed first report published in December on the secrecy and accuracy of the electronic voting and counting system.

The objective of this programme will be to demonstrate to the commission and the public that the electronic voting system, which was selected following detailed assessment of the requirements to be met in Irish electoral conditions and the holding of an open international tender competition, is suitable to be used in Irish elections. I am giving full consideration to the views of the commission and will ensure its analysis will inform and guide the programme of further assessment, testing and validation of the system.

I intend, therefore, that all the commission's recommendations for action should be appropriately addressed in the work ahead. The timing of the further use of the system is dependent on the progress made with this programme of work and the dates on which future polls may be held.

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