Electronic voting in the Republic of Ireland the Government of Ireland established the Independent Commission on Electronic Voting and Counting at Elections to examine the proposed system. It was dissolved in 2006. The Commission issued a series of reports reviewing the proposed system and comparing it to the existing electoral system: "The Commission can recommend the voting and counting equipment as follows: The prime issue was the lack of verifiability by the absence of an audit mechanism or verified paper trail. The former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had defended the flawed system in the Dáil, bemoaning the use of ""stupid old pencils"". The voting machines bought by the
Taoiseach this was John A. Costello, who was not leader of his party, but an agreed choice to head the government, because the other parties refused to accept then Fine Gael leader Richard Mulcahy as Taoiseach. In 2010 Taoiseach Brian Cowen, in the midst of highly unpopular spending cuts after the global financial crash, maintained his position as Taoiseach until new elections, but stood down as leader of Fianna Fáil and allowed Micheál Martin (who had resigned in protest at the way Cowen responded to the crises) to succeed him. Before the enactment of the 1937 Constitution, the head of government