The Minister for Finance has accused parties in the Dáil of engaging in political point-scoring in their opposition to the planned electronic voting system.
Defending the Coalition's stance on the issue in the House tonight, Mr McCreevy said the Government wanted to press ahead with the introduction of the system for June's European and local elections. He said its benefits should be "delivered as quickly as possible to the Irish people".
He accused Opposition parties of engaging in "wild conspiracies" that the system was not to be trusted and told the Dail software had been rigorously tested. Mr McCreevy was speaking after Opposition parties join forces in a motion on the plans to bring in electronic voting.
The Government earlier proposed the setting up of an independent panel to verify the secrecy and accuracy of the system.
The Opposition motion calls on the Government "to immediately defer plans for the use of electronic voting" until an independent electoral commission has been established and has addressed "legitimate concerns". It notes the Government's failure to "include the provision of a voter-verified paper audit trail".
Introducing the motion, Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny said the parties were moving the motion
collectively because of the urgency and gravity of the matter in hand. "This is not a matter of mere technology. What we are debating here is the essence of democracy," he said. The Government has issued a counter-motion to oppose the move by Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party.
The text of the counter motion says legislation will be introduced to set up an independent panel and that primary legislation will be applied for voting to non-Dail elections. More explicit arrangements will be made with regard to spoiled votes and arrangements will be made to allow tally data to be made available to interested parties from the electronic count.
The amendment said the Government was introducing the legislation "out of respect for the significance of the electoral process and for the avoidance of doubt".
The counter motion received a swift response from Fine Gael and Labour earlier today. Mr Kenny said the independent panel was a "fig leaf".
"If the Government were serious about the views of independent experts, it would suspend its plans for electronic voting in June," Mr Kenny said.
"The Government's amendment is an admission that it has failed to convince the political parties or the public that their system of electronic voting can be relied on," he added.
Mr Kenny said "serious concern" exists about the Government's refusal to ensure that the new voting system keeps a paper record of each vote cast.
Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte said the Government counter motion showed the Government's approach to the issues was in a "total shambles".
He said electronic voting creates "considerable legal uncertainty" about the upcoming elections as its widespread introduction will prompt legal challenges. The parties received a surprise boost earlier when the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said she was sympathetic to their views on the matter.
The Green Party's Mr Trevor Sargent claimed the Government had reneged on a promise not to introduce e-voting in all constituencies unless all parties were satisfied.
Labour party spokesman on environment and local government, Mr Eamon Gilmore, pointed to a split on the issue in the Government adding that Ms Harney's comments were "a much more constructive approach to the debate on electronic voting than the ignorant views expressed by the Taoiseach yesterday".
The Taoiseach last night said: "I am told that the reliability of the system has been tested and that it is good. I have seen no hard evidence that there is a problem with this. The system has been used here. It has been used in referendums. It has been used in the general election."
He rejected criticism from American academic Dr David Dill of Stanford University, who said electronic voting could not be trusted unless a paper record was kept. Mr Ahern said the Republic of Ireland is now the biggest exporter of computer software in the world. "We should not need international experts to tell us because we export more to these countries than they ever created themselves," he said.
Powervote UK, the manufacturers of the 6,500 voting machines to be used in Irish elections, insisted yesterday the system was safe and is to be used in France later this year.
Mr Roy Loudon, managing director of Powervote UK, said: "The fact that over 70 million votes have been cast and counted on our systems without one challenge being raised gives some sense of the integrity of the solution that we have made available."
