Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 503: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28179/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Following the Government decision not to proceed with implementation of electronic voting in Ireland, an Interdepartmental Task Force, chaired by my Department, was established to bring the project to an orderly conclusion and to oversee disposal of the equipment and termination of storage arrangements. To date, the Task Force has met five times, with its most recent meeting taking place in June 2010. Between meetings, my Department maintains ongoing contact with members of the Task Force, in order to progress work on the cessation arrangements for the project.

In 2007, over 60% of the machines (4,762 in total) were moved from 12 local storage locations to a central facility at Gormanston Army Camp. There are no ongoing rental costs in respect of the use of this property. The remaining machines are stored at 13 local premises that were originally identified by Returning Officers for this purpose. It is intended that all machines will be removed from their present locations when arrangements for disposal are implemented. Work on termination of local lease arrangements is proceeding in this context.

Pending completion of arrangements for the disposal of the machines, costs are being incurred for their storage. Based on figures received in my Department from Returning Officers, the total annual costs for storage of the electronic voting equipment (including the cost of insurance, service charges, rates and heating) for 2009 were some €182,500.