International experts are to be drafted in by the Government to offer advice about the changes needed to improve the security of electronic vote counting software.
The report of the Commission on Electronic Voting, which was submitted last week to the Oireachtas, was discussed yesterday by the Cabinet following a report by the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche.
A Cabinet sub-committee, chaired by Mr Roche, and also including the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, and the Minister for Communications, Noel Dempsey, is to consider the report further.
Experts drawn from the "IT industry worldwide" are to be asked to "supervise the possible software design changes" recommended by the commission, a Government spokeswoman said last night.
The commission was headed by the chairman of the Standards in Public Office Commission, Mr Justice Matthew P Smith. The other members are: Kieran Coughlan, clerk of Dáil Éireann; Deirdre Lane, clerk of Seanad Éireann; Danny O'Hare, chairman of the Information Society Commission; and Brian Sweeney, chairman of Siemens and former chairman of Science Foundation Ireland.
