Doubts raised over company's ability to deliver contactless ticketing for public transport in Dublin

"The fate of this project lies with the same company that failed to deliver the traffic management system for Irish Rail, costing the taxpayer €50m," said Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman.

'The fact that we can't use our cards or phones to pay when we get on a bus or train puts us miles behind most European countries,' said Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman. Picture: Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie

The Government has been urged to add extra oversight to a plan to implement contactless ticketing to Dublin's public transport network.

Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman made the call in light of a failed €50m system at Irish Rail from the same company overseeing next-generation ticketing in the capital.

The project has now been written off, after Indra provided a software product to Irish Rail for testing in February, but a litany of systemic issues remained. 

At the Oireachtas transport committee in June, Irish Rail chief Mary Considine said some of these issues were safety critical. The project itself is part of a wider effort to deliver a national railway control centre in Dublin. The software was expected to be delivered in 2024 at a cost of under €20m.

Mr O'Gorman had asked a number of parliamentary questions related to the project. He was told by the National Transport Authority that a "comprehensive governance model has been implemented to oversee the NGT, project given its importance and scale".

But he said: "The Government has to put in extra oversight over the rollout of Next Gen Ticketing by Indra, the company that has the contract to deliver it. Next-gen ticketing is such an important project for commuters across Ireland.

"The fact that we can't use our cards or phones to pay when we get on a bus or train puts us miles behind most European countries.

"The fate of this project lies with the same company that failed to deliver the traffic management system for Irish Rail, costing the taxpayer €50m. I am not yet confident that the Government has learnt the lessons from that, and put in place new systems to ensure the same company doesn't fail to deliver a second major project."

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The NTA said in its response to Mr O'Gorman that the BusConnects Programme Board is the approving authority for the project and "approves all infrastructure guidelines (capital appraisal guidelines), deliverables, and project funding requests". 

It said there is a dedicated NGT project board, and the project is externally scrutinised by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer's Digital Government Oversight Unit from the Department of Public Expenditure and also reports to the Major Project Governance Oversight Group within the Department of Transport, as required. The project also reports to the NTA board and its capital programme committee.

"The NGT Project Board, along with representatives from key stakeholder groups, meet regularly to provide direction, authority to proceed, and agree a strategy for the project," the response said.

"The NGT Project Board includes independent external members with relevant international experience. The project board is responsible for holding the project team and NGT service provider to account."

The NTA said in its responses to Mr O'Gorman that funding for the project across the publicly operated bus, rail, and Luas services in the Greater Dublin Area is in the range €228m to €269m, and is ongoing and currently on schedule and on budget.