Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

It is ironic that earlier in the debate we were being accused of being too involved in the process. I do not know the answers to the questions. This is a matter for the returning officers, not the Minister. Ballot boxes will be available in ample time for the election. If I were to get involved in the micro-aspects of this, there would be justifiable reasons for making further accusations.

I accept Members expressing an opinion but they should be more accurate when quoting from the commission's report. Everybody likes to dine À la carte occasionally but Senator Bannon said the system was flawed. The commission states however: "The Commission wishes to emphasise that its conclusion is not based on any finding that the system will not work, but on the finding that it has not been proven at this time to the satisfaction of the Commission that it will work." I do not know how one can extract from this that the system is flawed. We will await the outcome of the further reports but I have strong views about the paper trail. It is not being used in any other countries.

However, in the event of a court challenge of a result, the ballot papers can be presented to the court. That could have been done within a specified period after the 2002 elections. If questions had been raised, the papers could have been presented to the court. That facility will be available in the future. We are not using any system at present but Nedap-Powervote is our preferred system. No commission would recommend what a major party in the Houses has recommended, that we introduce a system based on texting and the Internet, both of which can be hacked. The system we recommended stood alone.