Govt to scrap €51m electronic voting machines

The Government has formally announced the scrapping of the controversial electronic voting machines that have been sitting in storage for several years.

Environment Minister John Gormley says he will be putting a process in place to decide the best way to dispose of the controversial machines.

They were bought at a cost of €51m, but were placed into storage following concerns about the security of votes. the risks of tampering and the lack of a verifiable paper record.

Mr Gormley says he is scrapping the machines to avoid the considerable costs that would be incurred if they were to be modified to address these concerns.