FG to probe e-voting machine storage cost

FINE GAEL will be probing the cost of storing e-voting machines in Waterford when party leader Enda Kenny arrives in the city today for a major party meeting.

Local Fine Gael candidate Cllr Jim D’Arcy is to host the public meeting along with his running mate, John Deasy TD, in the Granville Hotel at 8.30pm tonight.

Mr Kenny is the main speaker and the event is part of Fine Gael’s national campaign in the build up to the next general election.

“It is an absolute disgrace that we have a situation here in Waterford where over €40,000 (four times the average storage cost) is spent every year to house the now defunct e-voting machines,” Mr D’Arcy said. “The people of Ireland deserve to know that the €60 million spent on this farce would have paid for seven million home help hours. This government’s poor management of the bulging public purse has meant that those on the margins of society are being left behind.

“I am proud to be running for a party that has the vision, conviction and appetite to work harder to provide efficient, cost effective public services that the people of Ireland so richly deserve,” said Mr D’Arcy.

This is the third meeting in the series, and follows on from very successful gatherings in Dublin and Cork. The party has committed to holding a meeting in every county as it attempts to gauge public opinion in the run-up to the election.

Mr Kenny will be spending two days in the Waterford region as part of his ongoing tour of the country.