E-voting costs: E52 million and rising

Fionnan Sheahan, Political Correspondent

Yesterday Department of the Environment officials accepted that the annual cost of storing and maintaining the e-voting machines will rise to about E1 million in the coming years on top of the E52m already spent on the stalled system.

Storage and insurance currently cost E660,000 per annum, with prices varying dramatically across the country, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee learned yesterday.

Responding to queries from Green Party TD Dan Boyle about the rising costs of keeping the unused machines, the department's general secretary Niall Callan conceded inflation and new maintenance contracts could bring the annual bill up to E1m.

Asking about the involvement of Monica Leech in the awarding of a E4.5m contract to publicise e-voting, Mr Boyle said it appeared the department had hired the PR consultant to select other people to carry out tasks.

Yet Mr Callan also insisted software developments and testing could boost public confidence in the system and allow it to be used in the future. The rollout of electronic voting was halted last year because of reservations over its security and accuracy.

Pointing out that it took 12 years to introduce electronic voting into Leinster House, Fianna Fáil TD John Dennehy said he would have an emotional attachment to the old counting system.

"I have gone through the ringer particularly at the last election," he said.

The cost-benefit analysis of the project was not adequate and there was no rigour in putting a cost on the purchase and implementation of the system, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell.

The anticipated savings also had a large question mark hanging over them, he said.

"There is a very large if attached to the cost savings as you are talking about a 20-year timetable," he said.

Describing the testing and piloting of the system as the Achilles tendon, Mr Purcell said that the department ought to have conducted far more testing.

"To a certain extent they were lulled into a false sense of security by the two pilots," he said.