Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I am sure the Minister of State will agree that, as other speakers have said, the voting system belongs to all citizens. Public ownership of the process is important. It is a fundamental tenet of our democracy that we must have trust and confidence in the system, otherwise we would have a crisis on our hands. If we have to delay the introduction of electronic voting for a while until agreement is reached between all parties, it will be in the best interests of democracy. There are too many doubts and we must eliminate all of them. Electronic polling machines must be capable of being checked and the system generally must be verifiable. There must be some kind of audit or paper trail, otherwise the European and local polls will be guinea-pig elections, run on a trial and error basis. Citizens suffering from disabilities, including short-sightedness, are wondering how they will cope with the new machines. I would also like to hear the Minister of State's reply to Senator Moylan's point concerning postal ballots.

People have the right to vote and the right, if they wish, to spoil a vote. As democrats, we do not encourage them to spoil their votes; we want to see them cast their votes positively for whatever party or candidate they choose. In his opening remarks, the Minister of State stated:

A person may attend at a polling station, be marked off the register of electors, approach the voting machine and leave without pressing the 'cast vote' button. In this case the machine will be deactivated and it will record the occurrence for inclusion in the election statistics.

However, the presiding officer, polling clerk and agents of party candidates will know that such a person has not pressed the 'cast vote' button. They will know therefore that the person has deliberately chosen to spoil his or her vote and in such circumstances the secrecy of the ballot will be destroyed.

Are the Minister of State and his officials satisfied that all constitutional requirements will be met under the proposed electronic voting system? As a layman, I do not think they will. I refer to Article 16.1.4° of the Constitution, which states that "... the voting shall be by secret ballot." Specifically, I would draw the attention of the House to the High Court Irish Law Reports, IR 69 of 1972. I am sure the Minister of State's officials are well aware of the High Court case to which I refer, which is McMahon v the Attorney General. In his ruling in that case, Mr. Justice Pringle declared that the words "secret ballot" in Article 16 "mean a ballot in which there is complete and inviolable secrecy". I contend that secrecy is not provided for in the specific instance referred to by the Minister of State, which I have already quoted. I would like to hear the Minister of State's response to that point. I have many other questions but that one is very important.

I would also like to hear the Minister of State's response to as many as possible of the 41 questions that arose from the consultants attendance at the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. There was a serious breakdown in a Belgian case, which is referred to among those questions.