The Labour spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said electronic voting should not be introduced without all-party agreement.
"The problem we now have arose directly from the Government's desire to proceed unilaterally, and its failure to listen to the views of the Opposition, members of the public and experts who commented on the system. If he had listened, we may have made more progress towards the introduction of electronic voting," said Mr Gilmore.
He was speaking during the final stages of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, which is expected to be passed today.
Mr Padraig McCormack (FG, Galway West) said he hoped that everything heard about the €52 million not being wasted, and the voting machines being stored temporarily until electronic voting was introduced, was not indicative of the attitude of the Minister and the Government.
"Opposition spokespersons have not opposed electronic voting, but its introduction without necessary paper checks or proof that the system is in order. We were doing our duty in pointing out inadequacies in the system which members of the public had raised with us."
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said he had been elected in the Dublin North constituency by electronic voting, which had been a deflating experience compared to the excitement of the paper-based system.
While he would not argue with the result, the standards of transparency and safeguards, in terms of integrity and privacy, were taken completely on trust and not verifiable.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, said the commission had stated in its report that it fully stood over the conduct of the 2002 elections.
