NTA has spent an 'astounding' €35m on contactless payment system due in 2028

Ireland has yet to roll out contactless payments on public transport — 'a method of payment that every corner shop and farmers market already has' says councillor Peter Horgan. Picture: iStock

The National Transport Authority (NTA) has spent more than €35m on a system for contactless payments on buses that will not be delivered until 2028, new data shows.

Next Generation Ticketing is the NTA’s project to modernise the system for payments on public transport by allowing people to pay with their bank card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, on their mobile phone or other smart device.

The initiative will ultimately see new equipment being deployed on all public operators nationwide, but the rollout is to begin in the Greater Dublin Area.

Since 2020, €35.6m has been spent on the project, figures provided by the NTA on foot of a Freedom of Information request by Labour councillor Peter Horgan show.

Two thirds of the total spend was in 2025, with a breakdown showing that €1.3m was spent in 2020, €1.8m in 2021, €2.2m in 2022, €3m in 2023, €3.4m in 2024, and €23.4m in 2025 on the rollout of Next Generation Ticketing (NGT), with a further €469,000 spent to date in 2026.

Contract for contactless system

Last month, transport minister Darragh O’Brien joined the NTA to officially open a new Dublin office for Indra Group, which, in 2024, was awarded the contract to deliver the new system, with the new office to act as the operational hub for the NGT programme.

The NTA said at the time that the project “involves the introduction of secure account-based payments, where fares are calculated retrospectively and charged directly to customers’ bank accounts, requiring the highest standards of data protection, reliability, and customer trust”.

The programme also includes the upgrade of approximately 240 railway station gates, around 1,000 station validators across LUAS and Irish Rail, and more than 2,800 on-bus validators in the Greater Dublin area alone.

No timeframe for Cork rollout 

New validators will begin appearing from 2027, with contactless payments available from 2028. 

There is no timeframe for the rollout of NGT on Cork public transport, though the NTA previously told Mr Horgan that it would be delivered under the BusConnects Cork programme.

In a business case document for the project, the NTA said: “As well as deriving many benefits over the current ticketing system, the provision of the NGT solution is required as the current cash ticketing system is obsolete, with significant maintenance required.

“In addition, to extend the life of the current system carries significant risk to the NTA as there are concerns regarding the ability to maintain and source equipment for that system. This is also compounded with the overall risk to revenue collection for the services.”

Mr Horgan told the Irish Examiner: 

This is an astounding amount of money to spend — and to yet be told we must wait as a nation another two years for a method of payment that every corner shop and farmers market already has.

“It’s frustrating enough for me as a Cork representative that the rollout is happening Dublin first, but with the amount of money already spent, it warrants an explanation.

“Cities like Derry and Belfast have powered ahead of all the other cities on the island of Ireland by offering contactless payments on their services..

"The Republic’s cities remain in the ha’penny place.”

The Irish Examiner contacted the NTA for comment.