Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

——we must tread carefully on that.

On concerns about how the machines are stored, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is of the view that it would be much cheaper and cost effective if they were stored centrally, given some of the leases that people have taken to budget for these issues.

I have stated that, in the absence of political agreement on this issue, we cannot use them in the next general election. We must wait for the report to be published. I still hold the view it is a pity that the country that has continually the highest rate of software exports in the world is refusing to use electronic voting, even when we have gone through an international process resulting in using a company that is held in high regard and does not have a difficulty in other democracies.

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