The Dáil has rejected the Opposition demand, that electronic voting not be used in the June elections.
In a vote tonight, the opposition motion was rejected by 59 to 55.
Government speakers defended the controversial system and claimed that opposition critics wanted to deny its benefits to Irish voters.
Speaking tonight, Minister of State Pat the Cope Gallagher dismissed opposition calls for a paper audit trail to back up the electronic system, claiming virtually no country in the world operated such a system.
FG claims over e-vote PR contract
Earlier, the Department of the Environment rejected criticism from Fine Gael about the awarding of the contract for publicising electronic voting to a company headed by a former Fianna Fáil General Secretary.
Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, pointed out that Monica Leech, a personal advisor to Environment Minister, Martin Cullen, had been on the interview board which awarded the €4.5m contract to Q4, a company headed by former Fianna Fáil General Secretary, Martin Macken.
The Taoiseach said the awarding of the contract was completely transparent and according to the rules, and accused Mr Kenny of trying to create a 'slur'.
The Department of the Environment later told RTÉ News that Ms Leech was Mr Cullen's Communications Advisor, and that it was entirely right and proper for her to sit in on meetings relating to the contract, and to be involved in all decisions that were made.
In the Dáil, Mr Kenny also quoted from a letter from Peter Green, the Chief Returning Officer in the Department, who warned in early 2003 that the roll-out of the system nationwide was 'risky and perhaps unmanageable'.
However, the Department spokesman said this letter had been written before the section involved had been given extra resources and staffing, and that the problems identified had been resolved.
