€2m PR bill for abandoned e-voting

THE Government has paid out more than €2 million in PR and advertising fees for electronic voting since the rollout of the system was abandoned.

The contract for the e-voting voter education and awareness campaign was engulfed in controversy after being awarded to a consortium headed by a PR company branded as “friends of Fianna Fáil”.

Exactly four months after the plug was pulled on Martin Cullen’s plans by an independent commission, the Department of the Environment has put the total cost of the abruptly halted e-voting venture at €42 million.

The Department’s final figure is well below previous estimates but does not include the cost of storing the thousands of unused e-voting machines in locations across the country.

The final cost of the voter awareness and education campaign was €3.315 million, a department spokesperson confirmed yesterday.

The day before the Government was forced to abandon e-voting in June’s local and European elections by an independent commission’s damning report, a Junior Minister told Dáil Éireann that only €1.125m had been paid out on PR and advertising costs. Yet when all the bills for the campaign came in, the final tally was three times that amount.

According to a department spokesperson, another €38.83 million was spent on e-voting machines, training and other election expenses.

The voter education and awareness campaign was conducted by a consortium including Q4 public relations. The company’s senior management includes former FF general secretary Martin Macken and former Taoiseach’s advisor Jackie Gallagher. The furore from opposition parties over their appointment was compounded when it emerged that Minister Cullen’s political advisor, Monica Leech, sat on the panel responsible for awarding the contract.

The Commission on Electronic Voting’s finding that the security of the voting system could not be guaranteed in time for the elections caused the Government to call off the rollout on April 31. The day before the report’s publication, Junior Environment Minister Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher told Dáil Éireann that €42 million had been given to returning officers by the Department of Finance to cover the cost of purchasing the e-voting machines and other election expenses, including training.

“The estimated cost of the equipment and software is €46.4 million, including VAT. The voter education and awareness campaign is estimated to cost €5 million, including VAT, of which €1.125 million has been advanced to date. This programme will also include approximately €1 million on promoting awareness of the polls in June and to encourage the electorate to vote,” he said in response to parliamentary questions.