Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the members of the Cabinet committee on electronic voting; the number of meetings of the committee which have been held to date; the date of the last meeting of the committee; when the committee intends to report to the Government; if it has appointed a peer review group for electronic voting; the members of such group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36484/06]

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 31: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will outline the progress to date in implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Electronic Voting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36602/06]

John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 34: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason the Commission on Electronic Voting was not asked to continue the testing it identified as essential to hardware and software for the electronic voting machines before it was dissolved in September 2006; if the commission expressed views on who should do this further testing before its dissolution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36647/06]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the next election or referendum at which it is intended to use the Nedap Power vote electronic voting system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36485/06]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has undertaken a capital appraisal of the proposal to centralise the storage of electronic voting machines; the result of such appraisal; if he will publish same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36640/06]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the views the Department of Defence submitted to him in relation to the central storage of electronic voting machines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36604/06]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 122: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the person carrying out further work on the hardware and software for electronic voting, in view of the fact that the Commission on Electronic Voting has been wound up; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36603/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 359: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the cost to date of the e-voting technology including the cost of promoting its use, storage and research, with a breakdown of costings in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37053/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 360: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the various tests carried out here and in the Netherlands on the e-voting systems proposed by his Department; if he intends to continue to store and promote such technology and for what purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37054/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 24, 31, 34, 52, 62, 104, 122, 359 and 360 together.

The Commission on Electronic Voting concluded in its Second Report on the Secrecy, Accuracy and Testing of the Chosen Electronic Voting System, which was published on 4 July 2006, that it can recommend the voting and counting equipment for use at elections in Ireland, subject to further work it has recommended. The Commission made it clear that many of its recommendations involve only relatively minor modifications or additions to the system.

While the software of the voting machine was considered by the Commission to be of adequate quality requiring only minor modifications and further analysis to confirm its reliability, it was unable to recommend the election management software. In the context of its comparison of the electronic and manual voting systems, the Commission concluded that, subject to its recommendations being implemented, the chosen system has the potential to deliver greater accuracy than the paper system and can provide similarly high levels of secrecy.

In response to the report, the Government has established a Cabinet Committee on Electronic Voting, which I chair, to consider the report in detail; report to the Government on the full implications of the Commission recommendations; consider the composition of a peer review group — drawn from international electoral reform bodies and the IT industry — to supervise any software redesign work; report to the Government on confidence building measures; and identify any other improvements that might be built into the system.

The Cabinet Committee, which also includes the Tánaiste and the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, met on 31 July 2006. Its work is underway and it will meet again in the near future. The issue of a peer review group will be considered by the Committee at the appropriate stage of its deliberations. The Committee will report to Government when its work is completed.

The timing of the further use of the system is dependent on the ongoing work of the Cabinet Committee, the associated decisions arising in this regard, and the dates at which future polls may be held.

Section 22 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2004 provides that the Commission shall stand dissolved on the expiration of 2 months from the presentation by the Commission of the last of its reports; this expiration period concluded 4 September 2006.

On the question of further testing, recommendations 18 to 21 of the Second Report refer to the need for testing of the system by a body duly qualified and accredited following any modifications that may be decided upon. These and all other recommendations of the Commission will be taken into account in the work of the Cabinet Committee. I am aware of the testing of the system to date here and elsewhere, and fully accept the need for appropriate further testing of the system prior to use.

The Government decision to proceed with the movement of the electronic voting equipment to centralised premises was made taking into account a range of factors, including costs of current and centralised arrangements and the likely benefits to be realised. In this regard, the Commission in its Second Report concluded that, as the current arrangements under which voting equipment is stored at 25 locations are likely to give rise to continuing variations in the implementation of security and related control measures, together with replication of similar costs of implementation of these measures which are not insignificant across individual centres, enhanced and more uniform security and greater economy of security costs could be achieved through the rationalisation of storage on a regional or centralised basis.

In taking forward the decision to centralise storage of the electronic voting machines, the Department of Defence advised my Department of the availability of a hangar at Gormanston Aerodrome, Co. Meath, which can accommodate the majority of the electronic voting machines.

The total cost incurred to date in the development and roll-out of the electronic voting and counting system is €51.3 million (including €2.6 million in respect of awareness and education initiatives and €0.73 million for work by consultants on assessment/testing of the system). In addition, information provided by returning officers to my Department indicates that the annual storage costs for the electronic voting machines and ancillary equipment is currently some €705,000.