The Taoiseach defended the Government's decision to proceed with electronic voting during heated exchanges with the Fine Gael and Labour leaders.
Mr Ahern said the system to be used had gone through a testing period. "It was then rolled out in some constituencies almost two years ago during the general election and then used in further constituencies," he added.
"It went through the entire process. Complaints were made in the House and I responded by saying we would have an independent examination or group to deal with this. People of the highest repute will be appointed to the commission."
Mr Ahern said that the commission members would be appointed within the next few days, while the necessary legislation would be brought to the Government "for approval and publication as soon as possible."
He added that there were many accepted electronic systems in use throughout the world without a verifiable paper trail. "The system can print a ballot paper for each vote cast, thus enabling a manual count to be conducted if one is required, for example, in the event of a court petition. The Minister and his departmental officials have spent a week consulting all the experts, whose advice is that we are not using the kind of equipment with which this difficulty arose in America. The systems are as different as apples and oranges."
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, accused the Government of "unbridled arrogance" in proceeding with the proposal.
"Is the Taoiseach aware that the public perception of what he is doing is of a fundamental alteration of the method of voting that has been the cornerstone of this democracy for 90 years?
"Is the Taoiseach happy that the former minister for the environment and local government spent €40 million on this scheme without the permission of the House? Is he happy the current Minister has awarded a €4.5 million contract to a former general secretary of the Fianna Fáil party?"
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, interjected: "That is untrue."
Mr Ahern said he did not agree there was a lack of public confidence in the system. The system had been used during the second Nice referendum and during the last general election. "There was no complaint or objection from the people involved in this."
Amid the continuing exchanges, Mr Ahern accused the Fine Gael spokesman on the environment, Mr Bernard Allen, of being totally and completely opposed to electronic voting. "He is doing his best to turn people off electronic voting."
Mr Allen replied: "I want honesty."
Mr Ahern said: "The deputy wants to keep old ways, old things, the old nonsensical past."
The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the Taoiseach had decided to proceed with electronic voting even though the legislation had not been published. "Is it not the case that the Taoiseach has trampled on the rights of parliament and ignored the views of his own backbenchers? He has contempt for public opinion and he has repudiated the academic experts who have made clear their concerns about security and verifiability."
Mr Ahern said the system to be used resulted from a major international procurement process. "The tender was won by a company that is internationally renowned for having an accurate system for over 30 years. It is a highly credible company.
"The system has been examined by at least six different bodies, including the German institute, PTB; the Dutch firm, TNO; KEMA, the Dutch firm involved in certification safety; the electoral reform system, which ran the functional test to verify the system; an Irish software company which undertook the architectural and code review; and Zerflow Information Security."
