Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I am surprised the Dutch report on the ineffectiveness of the electronic voting machines and the real need to scrap them has not been translated into English by the Minister's colleagues in the Green Party in the Netherlands or the translators in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Is the Minister in favour of the electronic voting machines which were given a trial run in some constituencies a number of years ago and have been criticised by the Green Party over recent years? The Minister's party suggested his predecessor as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, should resign if he continued to advocate the use of the machines. The State has spent €60 million on electronic voting machines, including their storage. It cannot even get the storage capacity right at Gormanston Aerodrome. Will the Minister tell the House what he intends to do with the electronic voting machines, rather than hiding behind another Commission on Electronic Voting report?

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