Returning officers have entered into leases of up to 25 years for the storage of electronic voting machines and equipment.
These may have to be "bought out" as part of Government plans to move the machines to a centralised site at Gormanston aerodrome.
In a written parliamentary reply last week, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche revealed the returning officer for Cavan/Monaghan constituency told him of a storage arrangement involving a 25 year lease. Elsewhere, returning officers for Cork city, Kerry and Waterford each said they had entered into 10 year leases.
However, Mr Roche declined to reveal details of the costs which might be involved in the buyout of the leases given "the commercial considerations" involved. Similarly, he said it was not possible to detail conclusively at this stage the costs which will be associated with the new centralised storage arrangements.
He said the Government plans to spend €112,750, excluding VAT, on the purchase of 48 metal storage containers and ancillary items for Gormanston aerodrome, while preparatory work has also been carried out on the hangar at a cost of some €7,000.
According to figures released by Mr Roche, Dublin city has a lease of eight years and Meath a lease of nine years and nine months, although others such as Dublin and Cork County,Wicklow, Wexford, and Donegal have annual or monthly leases.
Galway and Sligo have no leases as the machines are stored in the courthouse, while Louth also stores its voting machines on town council premises.
He added that the current annual cost of storing the machines is €706,000. This represents an increase of almost €50,000 when compared to 2004.
A decision on when the machines will be used in any election would depend on the outcome of the ongoing work of the Cabinet committee on electronic voting, the decisions arising from this, and the dates on which future polls may be held.
Replying to questions from several Dáil deputies on Thursday, Mr Roche said the total cost incurred to date in the development and roll-out of the electronic voting and counting system is €51.3 million.
A spokesman for Mr Roche acknowledged that his department would be entering into discussions with individual returning officers in relation to long-term storage arrangements for the e-voting machines.
This could lead to specific leases being eventually bought out, he said.
However, he pointed out that the current hangar at Gormanston does not have the capacity to store all 7,500 e-voting machines.
It was possible that buying out the leases could prove too expensive, and a decision could be made to leave the machines where they are, he added.
In his Dáil reply, Mr Roche said responsibility for the security and safe storage of manual voting equipment is a matter for returning officers.
Accordingly, similar responsibility was assigned to them in relation to the storage of the electronic voting machines and equipment.
"In the majority of cases, returning officers entered into leases in respect of storage premises for the machines . . . It would not be appropriate to comment at this stage on detailed costs that might be involved in the buyout of leases given the commercial considerations involved," he states.
"Information provided by returning officers to my Department indicates that the annual storage costs for the electronic voting machines and ancillary equipment . . . 2005 and 2004 amounting to some €696,000 and €658,000 respectively."