The electronic voting system withdrawn amid controversy over its possible security flaws would save €13 million over 20 years, the Committee of Public Accounts has heard.
Senior officials from the Department of the Environment, which was responsible for implementing the €50 million system, have been facing questions on the issue today.
The committee was told local authorities and the Office of Public Works were being forced to pay out around €750,000 per year for storage and maintenance of the voting machines.
It also hear that the promotion of e-voting technology to the public had also run up costs of around €4.5 million.
However, Government officials said they forecast savings of €13 million over 20 years if the system replaces the traditional manual counting of ballot papers.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, claimed the system had been a shambles from the start.
Committee chairman and Fine Gael TD Mr Michael Noonan was forced to clarify reports before the meeting this morning that he believed the €50 system would have to be written off.
He said that his remarks were made on the basis of the report of the Commission on Electronic Voting that had criticised the security and accuracy of the system.
Civil servants again defended the plan, but suggested the timeframe for introducing the electronic scheme had been too narrow.
In April last year, an independent commission on electronic voting said it was not satisfied as to the system's level of secrecy and accuracy and said it had not been able to obtain access to the "source code", the programme that drove the system.
The Nedap/Powervote electronic system was to have been used for the first time in all constituencies in the June 2004 local and European Parliament elections, but this plan was abandoned following the commission report.
It had been used on a pilot basis in the constituencies of Meath, Dublin West and Dublin North in the May 2002 general election. It was extended to seven constituencies in the Nice referendum in October the same year.
The Commission on Electronic Voting (CEV) reported again in December and has said it will monitor a programme put in place by the Department of the Environment to examine the system.
Former environment minister Mr Martin Cullen was heavily criticised by the Opposition for pressing ahead with plans to introduce the electronic voting system for last year's elections despite the concerns expressed by experts and by members of the public.