Electronic Voting: The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, has criticised the Government's stewardship of the electronic voting project after the system bought for some €50 million was withdrawn before the June elections.
In his annual report for 2003, Mr Purcell said the initiative should have been subject to more rigorous appraisal before it was bought, given the scale of expenditure required.
An assessment of the value for the "vast bulk" of the expenditure will depend on the future use of the system, which was set aside last May pending further examination by the Commission on Electronic Voting.
Fine Gael seized on the report, claiming it provided ample grounds for the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to sack the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, in today's Cabinet reshuffle.
Although Mr Purcell acknowledged that the decision to move to electronic voting was influenced by "factors other than cost", he said the Department of the Environment had estimated in 2000 that savings of €13.8 million would accrue over 20 years.
He said a decision in 2002 to buy 400 machines for a pilot vote on the second Nice referendum was made despite the fact that the machines required modifications, a fact the Department was aware of.
These modifications resulted in "avoidable costs" of €680,000 being incurred.
He also said the Department issued a letter of intent to purchase 6,000 voting machines, but bought 6,315.
Mr Purcell said in a statement that his 13-page examination of the electronic voting system followed concerns which had been expressed by the public and members of the Dáil.
The project should have been subjected to more rigorous cost-benefit analysis.
The Government spent an estimated €43.66 million on hardware and software and €535,179 on consultancy fees. Although expenditure on advertising and promotion was to be €3.85 million, €1.13 million of this was saved when the system was withdrawn before the local and European elections.
This expenditure included €733,669 on public relations under a contract managed by Q4, a firm part-owned by the former Fianna Fáil general secretary Mr Martin Mackin and Mr Jackie Gallagher, a former adviser to the Taoiseach. "The cost to date of electronic voting is in the range of €47.5 million to €50 million.
"The degree of value obtained for the vast bulk of this expenditure depends on future decisions on the use of electronic voting and counting," Mr Purcell said.
However, it was "not unreasonable" for Mr Cullen's Department of the Environment to proceed as it did on the basis of the results of its testing and pilot programmes before the report of the Commission on Electronic Voting was published.
In addition, he said, the procurement of hardware and software was in line with proper procedures.
Fine Gael's environment spokesman, Mr Bernard Allen, said the report was damning of Mr Cullen and should be read as his P45.
"In any commercial company the Minister's behaviour would be a firing offence. Minister Cullen should not be reshuffled," said Mr Allen. "He should be dismissed, for his cavalier and irresponsible behaviour."
Such claims were rejected by Mr Cullen's official spokesman.
"Bernard Allen and the Opposition continue to play politics when the facts speak otherwise. At every stage, the Minister and Government have acted on official and expert advice and this is the path we will continue to follow."
