Dail Sketch Frank McNallyIt was the ultimate illustration of the dangers of electronic voting. Until yesterday, the Government had approached the issue with all the confidence of computer geeks, convinced that the new paperless election system was as simple as 1-2-3.
But just when it came to pressing "enter", inevitably, things went wrong. The foolproof system had apparently crashed under the weight of expert criticism, and the future was a blank screen. The Government was forced to admit that e-voting might, after all, be a work in progress.
The Opposition could not hide its e-lation. Pat Rabbitte declared the Government's position "a shambles", and reminded us that his environment spokesman (E-Gilmore) had warned for weeks that new legislation would be necessary. As Mr Ahern attempted to explain that, really, the Government's only concern was to preserve the tradition of election-day tallying, Labour insisted that a greater issue was at stake. "Verifiability is what it's all about," said the party's chief whip (E-Stagg).
Suddenly, everybody in the Opposition was an electronics expert. The Fine Gael leader (E-Kenny) developed Mr Stagg's point. Without a paper audit trail in whatever system finally emerged, even the Government's embarrassing climbdown would not be enough. He offered the simple analogy of an ATM machine giving receipts. If the new system did not offer paper-based reassurance, the electorate would have to cast its vote into a "black hole" and "hope for the best".
As the Taoiseach extolled the virtues of tallying, Joe Higgins inquired if Mr Ahern could find the tallies for the last election in Dublin West: the only constituency - he claimed - to have had to do without them. Having been re-elected by computer on the fourth count, the Socialist TD could afford to be relaxed about the new technology. But with the possible exception of the National Gallery, everybody appreciates a hard copy.
Mr Rabbitte claimed the Taoiseach had changed his mind "half a dozen times" on the e-voting issue. But Mr Ahern denied changing his mind even once: it was more like a single, transferable decision. And without a paper audit trail and detailed tallies of the Taoiseach's earlier positions, the Opposition would have a hard time proving anything.
In any case, for Mr Rabbitte, the argument was a simple one. "I have high regard for \" he told Mr Ahern, in a back-handed compliment. "But when it comes to counting votes, I don't trust Fianna Fáil."
The Fianna Fáil election machine has always been feared by the Opposition. But in the era of computerisation, it could take on a whole new meaning.