Electronic Voting, Political row continues
The opposition parties have attacked the Government for appointing the e-voting Commission without consultation.
The members of the Independent Electronic Voting and Counting Commission were announced today.
Fine Gael's Bernard Allen said their appointment without consultation meant the Commission was not independent.
He said its terms of reference would not allow it address the key issue - the lack of a verified paper trail.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the electoral system is not the property of Fianna Fáil or the PDs, and if the Government wanted a genuinely inddpendent panel, it would have sought the agreement of all sides of the House on its membership.
The commission has been asked to report to the Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil on the secrecy and accuracy of the chosen electronic voting and counting system, and is to report no later than 1 May.
It is to be chaired by High Court Judge Matthew Smith, who is also chairman of the Standards in Public Office Commission.
The other members are the Clerks of the Dáil and the Seanad, Kieran Coughlan and Deirdre Lane; Dr Danny O'Hare, chairman of the Information Society Commission; and Brian Sweeney, chairperson of Siemens Dublin.
The commission will have the power to invite and consider submissions, to review tests already undertaken and to have further tests undertaken, and to retain consultants.
Government sources have said any recommendations of the commission will be accepted - even if they include a postponement of the introduction of electronic voting.
Ahern defends electronic voting
This afternoon the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, robustly defended the decision to bring in electronic voting.
Mr Ahern pointed out that hundreds of millions of voters in India are to vote electronically.
Opponents of electronic voting have claimed that the costs could reach €82.5 million over the 20-year lifetime of the machines.
The Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, who is in Brussels, has complained that there have been several ill-informed contributions to the debate by people seeking attention or making mischief.
Mr Cullen claimed the integrity of the system has been vigorously tested by six independent test institutes.
