Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 273: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the full extent of the expenditure to date including consultancy, security, storage, public relations or other fees associated with or accruing from the electronic voting debacle; the anticipated expenditure in the future; his plans to protect the taxpayer against liability for such proposals in the future; if action has been taken or is likely to be taken to prevent a reoccurrence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11428/05]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 274: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason expenditure was authorised on the electronic voting proposals in the absence of scientific confirmation on the aspects of verification, integrity, security and reliability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11430/05]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 276: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if advice in regard to proceeding with electronic voting was sought or received from political advisors, civil servants, public relations consultants or others; if there was conflict in the advice offered; if anyone advised not to proceed with the proposals; if so, the reasons therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11433/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 273, 274 and 276 together.

The Government decided in February 2000 to move to electronic voting and counting to secure a range of identified benefits compared to the current manual arrangements, including more democratic outcomes through the minimisation of invalid votes and the more accurate counting of votes; provision of a higher level of service to the public; greater flexibility and speed in the voting and counting processes; and greater use of modern information and communication technologies.

The decision followed extensive research on electronic voting systems and experiences in other countries, and input from a range of sources on legislative, financial and practical considerations, including from representative returning officers, Department officials and other Departments in the course of interdepartmental consultations. I am not aware of any advice given not to proceed with the project.

In the development and implementation of the project, my Department commissioned internationally accredited institutes-companies to carry out extensive testing of the voting machine equipment and election management and count software associated with the introduction of electronic voting and counting in Ireland. All the test results, including an architectural and code review of the software, endorsed use of the chosen system and these test reports have been made publicly available. The Commission on Electronic Voting in its first report has confirmed that the system is capable of gathering and counting votes at elections with a high degree of accuracy, secrecy and efficiency, while pointing to the desirability of further testing and quality assurance.

The total cost to date of the electronic voting and counting project is €51.65 million. Apart from annual storage and insurance costs which, based on information provided to my Department by returning officers, amount €658,000, it is not possible at this stage to quantify additional costs that may arise in relation to the electronic voting and counting system. In any event, such costs are likely to be small relative to the capital investment already made.