Minister for the Environment John Gormley has said he would still like to see electronic voting work in Ireland.
However he warned it may not be possible to adapt the existing machines to secure public confidence.
He said if this were not possible, the Government would have 'no choice' but to decide not to use them.
Mr Gormley told Fine Gael's Phil Hogan that a lot of public money had been spent on the existing machines, and he did not want to walk away from that investment if they could be made to work satisfactorily.
The Minister also told the Dáil that he was not happy with existing electoral spending rules, as many parties spent large amounts before the election campaign proper began.
