Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 122: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reasoning behind the decision to move electronic voting machines to a central location; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7393/07]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the dates on which the Cabinet Committee on Electronic Voting has met; when it expects to report [7445/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 122 and 171 together.

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 on Electronic Voting 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.

The Commission also concluded in its Second Report 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.

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 and 13 February 2007. The Committee will report to Government when its work is completed.