Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

As the Leader will know, I have raised the issue of electronic voting a number of times, as have many of my colleagues. We must accept that, regardless of questions about security, it will go ahead. I request the Leader to inquire of the Government what programmes are being put in place to educate voters about how the system will work. Within six months elec tronic voting centres will be put in place in every town and parish and we will be calling on people to vote in local and European elections. I am worried about the many voters who will feel uncertain about the system. It is wrong to refer to elderly voters as being particularly prone to this but, as we are aware, many people who do not use ATMs or any form of electronic mail will have doubts and fears about using the machines for electronic voting.

At a time when we are trying to persuade people to vote and the percentage of people doing so is falling, my fear is that electronic voting will be a disincentive to many people. We urgently need to introduce a programme of voter education. There were plans to do this – I have seen one or two of the lorries, which are almost invisible, across the country, but they are certainly not travelling the highways and byways. The system put in place for the general election trial runs two years ago and the referendum last year worked reasonably well, but that involved a small number of constituencies. We now have 42 constituencies to look after and we need to hear the plans of the Minister and the Government. Between now and late spring we must ensure that every citizen is made aware of the new system and how to use it.