Let’s sell e-voting machines to Mugabe, says Deasy

WATERFORD Fine Gael TD John Deasy is urging the Government to call time on the failed electric voting machines, and has suggested the flogging of them to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as one of a number of possible options for their disposal.

The controversial Dungarvan based deputy, who is also a member of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, said it is the end of the road for these machines which have cost the taxpayer €52 million to buy and are costing an additional €1m annually to store at various locations countrywide.

Ironically, some of the highest storage costs are in the Waterford constituency of the then Environment and Local Government Minister Martin Cullen, who was left with the responsibility of trying to get Dáil approval for the machines, which were the brainchild of his predecessor Noel Dempsey.