Electronic voting and "the Republican Party"

So let's get this straight. After 78 years Fianna Fail has decided to drop 'the Republican Party' from its official title and re-register its party name as plain "Fianna Fail".

And the reason for this? Nothing to do with politics, but "technical reasons".

"A spokeswoman for Fianna Fail said the change was for technical reasons. She said officials at Martin Cullen's Environment Department had indicated 'Fianna Fail the Republican Party' was too long to fit on the new electronic voting machines and associated literature."

Yet, as this morning's Sunday Indo points out, the PDs are now registered as "Progressive Democrats an Pairti Daonlathact" - 11 letters longer than Fianna Fail's old name.