In a final vote of no confidence, Ireland’s ill-fated e-voting machines are finally headed to the scrap heap. An Offaly-based firm, KMK Metals Recycling, was declared the Government’s preferred bidder out of seven tenders. The company paid a mere €70,267 for the machines – a steal when one considers the €55 million they have cost the State to date. The price paid also works out at just half the annual €140,000 cost of storing them. Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said he was “glad to bring this sorry episode to a conclusion on behalf of the taxpayer”. “From the outset, this project was ill-conceived and poorly delivered by my political predecessors and as a result it has cost the taxpayer €55 million. “While this is a scandalous waste of public money, I am happy to say that we will not incur any further costs in the disposal of the machines,” he said.
The managing director of KMK, Kurt Kyck, said the price the company paid for the machines was based on what it expected to make from the recovery of their metal components and associated equipment. “All the components – aluminium, electrical circuitry, copper cabling and plastic, will be removed and dismantled, shredded and organised for recycling,” he said. The equipment includes 7,500 e-voting machines; 1,232 transport/storage trolleys; 2,142 hand trolleys and 4,787 metal tilt tables on which the machines were to be placed in polling stations.
Full Article: E-voting machines scrapped for €70,000 – The Irish Times – Fri, Jun 29, 2012.