Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

At the last general election, electronic voting was tried in three constituencies. Fortunately, there was no close-call count in any of those constituencies but I ask Members to consider what might have happened if it had been tried in Limerick West. On the basis of the commission's report, the wrong candidate could have been selected in the event of a close count. This is a serious issue. In that situation, would a person have a case against the State?

It is worth reflecting on electronic voting. I was in favour of it because I thought it would probably deliver a result more quickly and would be more scientific. I have reconsidered, having studied this report, which found a significant number of defects in the software. Even if we go ahead with further expenditure, which could amount to anywhere between €2 million and €10 million, there is still no paper trail, which was the main aspect of what was being sought in the past.

It is very unfortunate, and it would not happen in any other country, that a Minister would be so arrogant about the introduction of electronic voting. He ignored political and expert advice and was adamant about proceeding. He was obviously dictated to by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which said in 2002 that we would save €13.8 million with electronic voting. Let us not forget the additional expenditure such as the €4 million spent on a publicity campaign, not to mention the storage costs. With regard to the latter, we have the ridiculous situation where the life expectancy of the machines is 20 years but in many cases returning officers and others have entered into commitments on a 25-year basis.

This issue will roll on and on. In Waterford, the cost of storage is approximately four times the average. It is about time we put our hands up and admit that we got it wrong. If we go back to the manual voting system, so be it. At least then the tally men will be happy and we can get on with the business of elections. This has been a shocking disaster, caused by the arrogance of the Government.