Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said Irish pubs around the world could offer new homes for defunct and costly e-voting machines. The idea would give punters and emigrants the chance to vent their electoral anger on 7,500 electronic units rather than turning to jukeboxes and gaming machines. “Fianna Fail thought it would not be fashionable as Bertie (Ahern) said to be ‘using the peann luaidhe’ any more and that you needed to have a hi-tech machine,” he said. “But when the hi-tech machine was checked out it didn’t do the job that it was supposed to do so the system was flawed. They are valueless now. “There may be a market for them in Irish-themed pubs across the world.”
It is understood the Government is aiming to get rid of the machines over the next six months and is discussing whether to try to sell-off or recycle. The idea was the brainchild of Mr Ahern’s Fianna Fail government at the height of the Celtic Tiger boom and promoted by former ministers Noel Dempsey and Martin Cullen.
Full Article: Pubs ‘could use e-voting machines’ – Republic of Ireland, Local & National – Belfasttelegraph.co.uk.