Rabbitte renews attack on e-voting

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte renewed his attack on the Government over electronic voting and the extra costs of buying out storage leases for the unused machines. Some €52 million was "wasted" in buying them and it cost €700,000 a year to store them.

"We now find that we will have to pay millions in order to buy out the storage leases for machines that we will never use," he said.

But Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who confirmed that the machines would not be used for the next general election asked if the Labour leader was claiming that the company, which invested tens of millions of euro in its product, was "selling flawed equipment".

The company was approved in many countries and demonstrated credibility in votes in Ireland.

The Labour leader highlighted that when the Government moved to centralise storage of the machines, in county Monaghan the returning officer had entered into a storage lease for 25 years at €25,865 a year, "although the lifetime of the machines is 20 years".

Mr Rabbitte had suggested that the Taoiseach "abandon this crazy scheme and see if he can find anybody gullible enough anywhere in the western world to take the machines off his hands", and added that "nothing symbolises the incompetence and waste of this Government like the debacle of e-voting".

He asked when would the Government "cut its losses" on this issue.

Mr Ahern asked, however, if deputy Rabbitte was "questioning the facts on the countries in which these machines were used, that there was something wrong with the democratic vote in these countries. Are you questioning the credibility, expertise and technological ability of these people to provide the machines?"

He said: "It is hard internationally to explain how we, the world's greatest exporters of software, have a difficulty and still want to use pens and pencils, or chalk or crayons, when we ourselves want to vote."

The Labour leader replied: "What is the point in comparisons of other democracies with first-past-the-post systems? The fact of the matter is that this system was examined by experts and found wanting."

Mr Ahern said that "for the few million people in our country, I certainly regret that we are not moving down this road quickly enough. A vast democracy like India, with 600 million voting, can use it."

Referring to the call for paper copies of electronic votes, the Taoiseach said that "it is a pity that if you vote electronically, you should also have to get a bit of paper out.

"There is not much point in having technology if you go that route. If that is the Irish solution to electronic voting in 2006, God help our ability to stay strong on software."

Mr Rabbitte pressed on whether electronic voting would be used in the next election. Mr Ahern said that "based on the fact that the election is next year, I have stated on many occasions that we cannot use them next year. I hope that is clear enough.

"The commission on electronic voting has carried out detailed examinations, including speaking to international experts, and is to report on that.

"I have not seen that report. I'm waiting for it. I do not think that will change the position for next year."