The Government was accused of "sharp practice" in the manner in which it decided to proceed with electronic voting.
During a debate on the European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Bill, Galway West Fine Gael TD Mr Pádraig McCormack said an environment committee debate in December was "shut down" after experts from the IT sector raised 41 questions about the system.
He appealed for the Government to accept an amendment that the system not be imposed on every constituency for the June elections and then the public might have more respect for politicians.
However, earlier on the Order of Business, the Taoiseach defended the new system and said it had been tested by international experts.
Mr Ahern said that it was used "400,000 times in the general election and in the second referendum on the Nice Treaty, with positive feedback from all involved. Electronic voting was endorsed by the all-party Oireachtas committee following comprehensive and detailed examination and discussions from all involved on December 18th last."
Mr McCormack said, however, that "every member of the committee wanted Dáil Éireann and all the parties to come out in support of electronic voting. The people would then have had confidence in it. But as the debate developed we did not get answers to the questions we posed, particularly on December 18th. That is what convinced me that there was something not right about this proposal."
Mr McCormack said there were experts from the IT sector and the Department of the Environment at the meeting and 41 questions were asked about the new electronic system. "We believed and the committee members agreed that we would get answers to those questions before deciding whether to proceed with electronic voting," he said.
"When we came back after lunch however, it was proposed by the Government side that we would proceed with electronic voting and the vote on it was carried by a majority of 8 to 4, with the support of an Independent. That was on December 18th and I understand the contract was signed within two days of that date." It was "sharp practice", he said, and added that "the public has lost confidence in politicians to deliver on electronic voting without any doubts."
