E-voting delayed not abandoned, says Ahern

THE abandonment of electronic voting is only a temporary delay and does not mean the end for the voting changeover, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday.

The Government is under fire over the €52 million cost of e-voting, after the Commission on Electronic Voting’s damning report called a halt to the system’s rollout. But Mr Ahern insisted yesterday that e-voting will still be introduced at a later stage, despite the setback.

“This is a deferment. This is a delay and it doesn’t change anything else. Let’s get it right. This is a delay and then we can get on with electronic voting,” he said.