Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 February 2009
456 Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when a decision will be made to scrap, sell-off, donate to university or other, the electronic voting machines for which he is paying storage. [4392/09]
View answer457 Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount paid for the electronic voting machines purchased by his Department a number of years ago; the amount paid in training staff to use them; the amount paid each year since their purchase for storage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4393/09]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 456 and 457 together.
The total expenditure on the development and roll-out of the electronic voting system to date is €51.3 million, the bulk of which has been incurred in purchasing the voting machines and ancillary equipment. Of this, training costs amount to €272,500. Responsibility for the security and safe storage of manual voting electoral materials, such as ballot boxes, stamping instruments and stationery, has been a matter for the Returning Officers, who are statutorily responsible for conducting the polls. Accordingly, similar responsibility was assigned to them for the storage of the electronic voting machines and equipment. 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 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 were €658,000; €696,000; €706,000; €489,000; and €204,000, respectively. In 2007, over 60% of the electronic voting machines, some 4,762 in total, were moved to a central storage facility located at Gormanston Army Camp. Costs incurred to date in respect of the movement and storage of this equipment are €328,000. These are largely one-off costs related to the preparation of the facility, transportation of the machines and the acquisition of storage containers.
I am considering the next steps to be taken on the electronic voting and counting project. In this regard, I am taking into account the work of the Commission on Electronic Voting, which has examined the system, relevant experiences and developments internationally, the need to maintain public confidence in the electoral process, as well as the provisions in the programme for Government relating to electoral reform generally. Given the scale of investment in the system to date, and the importance of the issues involved for our electoral system, it is essential that the future of the project be examined objectively and in a thorough and comprehensive manner. It is important that we come to the best possible decision. It is not possible to make more specific comment at this point on the project itself, or on future plans for the machines, pending completion of the necessary work and a decision by the Government in the matter.
