A Nedap E-Voting Machine, of which we have many...

Back in 2004, I organised a public meeting in Carrick on Shannon to try and highlight the folly of the State investing in the unsafe and unnecessary technology of Electronic Voting.

The meeting wasn’t very well attended, which didn’t surprise me, given that the subject wasn’t particularly topical at the time and that the expenditure of public money doesn’t attract as much media attention as it does today.

At that time, the Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, hadn’t signed the contract with the Dutch company, Nedap, to buy the machines. A number of weeks later, an Oireachtas Committee recommended that the contract not be signed, but Minister Cullen went ahead anyway, on the advice of his Department officials, and signed the contract with Nedap for €53m.

Subsequent to this, pressure from public groups like Irish Citizens for Trustworthy E-Voting, the Government eventually established a Commission to investigate any issues that existed in relation to the system. This system found that the machines were not safe to use, and the rest is history.

Last week, Green Party Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, finally put an end to this fiasco, and announced that the machines would not be used in Irish elections and will be scrapped in the near future. This has been consistent with the Green Party’s views on Electronic Voting both in Opposition and in Government.

This episode should serve as a reminder of the folly of using technology for technology’s sake, particularly when it comes to taxpayers money. It also raises serious questions about the credibility of Martin Cullen and several public servants in the Department of the Environment, who ignored overwhelming advice from people who were far more qualified than they were to be making decisions of this nature.

€53m, and more for storage, is a high price to pay for what basically amounts to stupidity.

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During the recent Green Party Convention in Wexford, I took a walk around the town and came across this:

Wexford Borough Council has instated a policy of temporary pedestrianisation in the centre of the town during weekday business hours.

I’ve always been a proponent of pedestrian areas in the centre of larger towns, although I do think it has to be sensitively managed, particularly in relation to the livelihood of the traders it may affect.

However, given the current problems we have in the centre of Carrick on Shannon in relation to shoppers frequenting the retail parks on the edge of the town, should we start considering a bit of lateral thinking?

Bridge Street and Main Street in Carrick quite often look like car parks more than bustling town streets, and I have no doubt that this atmosphere influences shoppers in their choice of destination.

I think the time has come to look at a Pedestrianisation trial, from the corner at Paddys Pub to the Clock. Its a small enough area and no more than 20 parking spaces would be lost, many of which are already used by traders themselves anyway.

On the Saturday I was in Wexford Town, there was a real buzz about the place, and it was great being able to walk down the street without the din and congestion of constant traffic.

Surely, Carrick should at least consider pedestrianisation as an option?

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