Fine Gael has called on the Government to introduce an independent electoral commission to oversee the introduction of electronic voting next year.
A day after an Oireachtas committee heard of serious reservations about the system, Fine Gael said the €38 million network was being introduced without proper consultation or adequate scrutiny.
The party's environment spokesman, Mr Bernard Allen, said he was // // seriously concerned about the lack of a verifiable paper audit trail and the failure to make available the source code of the system.
He also said the Department of the Environment was not the appropriate body to introduce the system because its Minister, Mr Cullen, was also director of Fianna Fáil's local election campaign. "New technology can have a role in making our democracy more inclusive and representative, but we have to be secure in the knowledge that when it comes to making your vote, electronic voting systems are beyond reproach."
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment and Local Government is writing to Mr Cullen to express concern about the system after an academic computer scientist from NUI Maynooth said it should be modified radically. Ms Margaret McGaley said voters could not trust the system.
Mr Allen said the Government's decision to award a €4.5 million contract to publicise the initiative was a "serious affront" to the work of the committee while it was still ongoing.
The contract was awarded to the public relations firm Q4, which is owned by former Fianna Fáil general secretary Mr Martin Mackin and Mr Jackie Gallagher, a former adviser to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
