The Government has begun advertising across the European Union for firms to supply polling booths for the forthcoming general election.
The furniture division of the Office of Public Works has placed a tender notice in the EU Journal, which advertises public contracts across the 27 member states.
The OPW wants to assemble a stock of polling booths and supply them as required to returning officers in each local electoral area.
"We're just getting into a state of readiness because we know that the general election will take place in the coming months," an OPW spokesman said. The general election is widely expected to take place in May.
E-voting machines, which cost €52 million and are being stored in warehouses at an annual cost of €700,000, will not be used.
They are not now expected to be rolled into operation until at least 2009. Last year, the Commission on Electronic Voting concluded that the machines were not of sufficient quality to allow them to be used without malfunctions.
A Cabinet sub-committee has appointed an international panel of experts to help correct the software at a cost of €500,000.