Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

It is abundantly clear that in passing the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001, the Houses of the Oireachtas approved the use of the electronic voting system. I defended the original proposal in section 48 to provide the Minister with the authority to extend electronic voting to the other electoral codes. We took advice and the issue was compared to that of Carrickmines, which was debated in this House also. The Government decided wisely that if there was any question mark whatsoever, it would adopt a belt and braces approach. That is the primary reason we are back here.

It has been suggested that this legislation is rushed but we have had many hours of debate on it. Authority was provided through the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act to conduct sample tests with a view to preparing for electronic voting. We did not hear criticism at the time of the 2002 election. In Dublin West and Dublin South, 87% of voters were happy with the system. The public is disappointed, but we are where we are. I will not make a case for electronic voting as it is not going ahead.

The amendment before us is an unusual one for a Member of the Seanad to propose. It seeks to give more power to the Dáil but not to provide it to the Seanad. While it may be the result of a typographical error, its effect would also be to take power away from Independent Members.