FF ‘glossing over’ internal e-voting doubts

FIANNA FÁIL was accused last night of glossing over internal reservations on electronic voting after a leading TD’s public criticism of the system was dug up.

Just six months ago, Deputy Government Chief Whip Billy Kelleher slammed e-voting in a national newspaper as an unsafe fad that does not make sense and would undermine the democratic process.

The Cabinet is due to discuss the issue today as e-voting for local and Euro elections remains in doubt.

But Fine Gael pounced on an article Deputy Kelleher wrote for The Irish Times last August, when the FF deputy said he did not think the e-voting roll-out was a good thing.

The Cork North-Central TD also pointed out he was defending the existing paper system, despite taking a long time to recover after losing a seat by 25 votes in the 1992 election following a gruelling count.

“The length of the manual election counts can be brutal for candidates and their supporters, but it has helped keep the electorate’s interest alive in politics,” he wrote.

Bemoaning the loss of the pageantry of the count, he said the tallying helped to integrate parties into the political fringe.

“A good election count can equal a Munster hurling final for theatrics, colour and passion,” he said.

Now Deputy Kelleher says he is fully supportive of Environment Minister Martin Cullen’s plans and has complete confidence in the system. His concerns merely related to the loss of the count and the system used in the US and not the Irish scheme, he said.

“The Nedap system from Holland is tamper-proof and I would have no difficulties in recommending it. It has worked well in the constituencies where it was tested,” he said.

In a cheeky retort to FF’s efforts to embarrass Fine Gael on its stance on e-voting last week, FG TD Damien English said Deputy Kelleher’s column proved even people in Fianna Fáil have significant doubts about electronic voting, which are being glossed over by the party.

“From talking to people, I know there are others in the party who have concerns. Nothing has changed in the past six months since Billy Kelleher said that,” Deputy English said.

But last night, FF backbench deputy Ned O’Keeffe said he was not aware of any reservations within Fianna Fáil on the issue. Accusing Fine Gael and Labour of being an opposition bankrupt of ideas, Deputy O’Keeffe said e-voting has worked and urged Government to press ahead with the plans.