Michael Brennan (Fianna Fail)

Questions have been raised about the responsibilities of the returning officers in regard to spoilt votes. To my knowledge, once the electoral register is ticked off in a polling station, the number of votes can be compared to the recorded number of times the machine has been used. However, if there are spoilt votes when a button is not pressed, are they regarded as spoilt votes when the returning officer makes his or her return to a count centre? For example, if 1,000 ballots are issued and 900 are used, one can make up one's own mind about how many spoilt votes there are in a constituency or nationally.

Questions have been asked about carrying out end-to-end election testing. Can arrangements be made to demonstrate the system by conducting a complete end-to-end election, including theprinting of the individual ballot papers, to enable a count to be carried out? If there is a localelection petition hearing request to the High Court or Circuit Court, the election machine will have to print out ballot papers for thatconstituency. There will be two numbers on this printout — one which indicates when the ballot was cast and another to indicate at what stage the ballot was transferred. If this were carried out after the next election, or even beforehand, it might allay fears in regard to the validity of the system. The system should meet the concerns of the people as regards confidentiality and the eligibility of people to vote, which is most important. There are four modules in each machine. If there is a malfunction, which one is the most important for the count?

I thank the Minister and the Department for bringing this system forward. It is nice to see a modern Ireland which might not be the last country to declare after the European elections. Perhaps this time we will come in early.