Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for his introductory remarks. I also welcome the opportunity to debate this Bill.

We must consider the reason we want electronic voting and what is the point of it. We want it because over successive referendums and local and European elections there has been a decline in the number of people taking up their option to vote. It is our responsibility as legislators to encourage them to vote and to ensure that it is possible for them to do so in the easiest, clearest and most efficient manner. Electronic voting provides those conditions.

This Bill puts the commission which produced the report on a statutory footing. The commission was set up by the Minister and it is therefore disingenuous of people to suggest that he did not listen to people's concerns. I have attended numerous meetings of the Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government since early last year where the issue was discussed. The matter was discussed in detail, there were demonstrations of the equipment and experts, both for and against, set out their cases. The Department also explained its position. The Minister listened to all of that and both he and Government accepted the need to set up the commission. They immediately agreed that any decision taken by the commission would be accepted and acted upon. That is what happened.

I welcome the work that has gone into the commission's report and while I agree with the majority of the points made, I disagree with some. A full page of the summary and conclusion of the report explains the benefits of the system and the reasons it would work. It has a straightforward layout and is user-friendly. The report also confirms that the machines accurately counted and recorded the votes cast in the test.

The report describes the testing of the secrecy and accuracy aspects of electronic voting. Technology is advancing at a rapid rate and a sign of that is that approximately 111 different versions of the source code exist since testing began. Technology changes occur from week to week. Decisions must be made with regard to when we select our technology as we could spend another five years debating, testing and examining it. Somebody must decide sometime on what system, what codes and what secrecy aids we will use.

I have yet to hear a Member of either House say he or she is not in favour of electronic voting. Some of the vox pops carried out at electronic voting roadshows and exhibitions prior to the commission's report show that the majority of people found the system easy to use, understandable and acceptable. However, we cannot be too careful or sensitive about how we treat the issue of people's right to vote and democracy.

I agree with the Minister's decision to delay the implementation of electronic voting. I do not agree, however, with those who say it will never happen and that we will not get to use the infrastructure for which we have paid. It is nonsense to suggest that we have squandered €50 million. That is a once-off capital cost. The system will be used in the future although we will need more discussion and testing of it. We can never be too stringent regarding the right to security and secrecy of a person's vote.

The commission's report mentioned that electronic voting machines beep when buttons are pressed. That is an insignificant matter and the beep could be replaced by a light or some other signal to ensure the secrecy of the person's ballot. On the issue of accuracy, the commission qualifies its comments with the word "possibility". It stated: "There is a possibility that further testing will uncover software errors." It also stated: "While eliminating the possibility of certain types of inadvertent error, the chosen system introduces the possibility of new types of error" and that "there is a possibility of interference". We all know there is a possibility that we could all fall into a hole in the ground in the morning.

We can only know the system by using it. The system has been used. Some 400,000 people in the country voted using the system and not one complaint was made about it and no issue was raised with regard to it.