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THE GOVERNMENT finds itself in a deep hole because of the purchase and storage of thousands of electronic voting machines. It should stop digging. What had seemed like a good idea, way back in 1999, has turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. The initial waste of public money on the purchase of this dangerously insecure system has been compounded by the establishment of long-term leases of up to 30 years for the storage of machines in controlled environments.

John Gormley is the fourth minister for the environment to have responsibility for the mess. And because there is no question of the machines being used in the forthcoming local and European elections, or thereafter, he should call a halt to the madness. An estimated €52 million was spent on voting machines by Noel Dempsey and by his successor, Martin Cullen, in spite of the objections and concerns of the opposition parties. And when a special Commission on Electronic Voting found it was easy to bypass the proposed security system in 2004, the machines were put into storage at an annual cost of about €700,000.