Cost of machine storage highest in Waterford

The State's bill for storing e-voting machines in Co Waterford is four times higher on average than anywhere else in the State, according to official data circulated to members of the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts yesterday.

Waterford is the constituency of Mr Martin Cullen who, as minister for the environment, introduced the aborted e-voting system.

Figures drawn up by the Department of the Environment show that it costs more than €50,000 a year to store 195 machines in Co Waterford, an average of €260 for each machine. Elsewhere the average bill for storing an e-voting machine is just over €62 a year.

A spokesman for the county registrar's office in Waterford told The Irish Times last night that the selected premises fulfilled all the specifications set out for the storage of the equipment.

The spokesman said a local auctioneer, commissioned by the office, had proposed five separate locations. An architect examined these and based on his recommendation the premises was chosen.

The spokesman said much work had to be done on the building to meet the strict specifications set out for machine storage.

The Department of the Environment report given to the committee shows the €50,820 contract for storage of the equipment is held by a company called Johnstown Properties Ltd. Documents filed in the Companies Registration Office list the owners as Mr Michael Cahillane, Ms Monica Cahillane, Mr John Rohan and Ms Bernadette Rohan.

The Department of the Environment figures show the cost nationwide for the storage of the 7,500 electronic voting machines was just over €658,000 a year.

The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the figures indicated that while it cost more than €50,000 to store 195 electronic voting machines in Co Waterford, the bill for the storage of 200 machines in Co Clare was only €10,800 a year.

The secretary-general of the Department of Finance, Mr Tom Considine, said that if the bills submitted by election returning officers for storage did not seem reasonable, they would be examined.

Meanwhile, Mr Considine added that most returning officers, who in general are county registrars, failed to meet their deadline for the submission of accounts for how they spent financial advances provided by the Department of Finance for running the local and European elections in June 2004.

Mr Considine said the Department met and wrote to the officers reminding them of the requirement to submit returns within 26 weeks. The Department also offered to pay for administrative support. "I regret to say. . . only three accounts for the June 2004 elections had reached us by the December 11th deadline," he said.