Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
GREEN PARTY LEADER Roderic O’Gorman has said that it is “worrying” that there is no deadline in place for the plans to introduce contactless payments on public transport over a year into the project.
The Spanish technology and defence firm Indra Sistemas SA won a single vendor contract in April of 2024 for the development and installation of contactless payments from the National Transport Authority worth €243m, to be paid out over ten years.
O’Gorman told The Journal that Indra is being paid a “very significant amount of public money” and that it is “very worrying that neither the Minister for Transport or the NTA can give us a clear date for this project to be finished”.
“Commuters deserve to know when they will be able to benefit from the contactless system,” O’Gorman added.
In the last quarter of 2024 the NTA paid €1,396,249 to Indra in purchase orders. These were the first purchase orders paid out to the company.
Separate from its contract with Indra, the NTA is also paying for services from the Irish outsourcing firm Abtran for work on the ‘next generation ticketing’ project.
Abtran works with several state agencies. The firm says that it primarily provides project management, ICT and operations services to the NTA.
It says that its personnel are involved in the implementation of next generation ticketing.
“Assignments are deployed in agreement with the NTA to ensure each resource has the most appropriate skills and experience for the specific needs of the project,” Abtran further states on its site.
The NTA paid €2,511,203 to Abtran for ‘Ticketing Technologies, Operations, Project and Programme Management’ in the same period, but the NTA has not said how much of this was spent on work for the Leap Card replacement project, and how much was spent for other work the firm provides to the agency.
The NTA told The Journal that not all of that money will be for work on the next generation ticketing project, though it could not clarify the amount that was.
In response to a parliamentary question the NTA said that the initial phase will involve installing over 3,000 new validators across 69 Luas stops, 67 Irish Rail stations, 10 bus depots and more than 1,300 buses in Dublin alone.
It said that several teams will be working on installation, but buses can only be worked on when they are not in use, “i.e primarily at night or on the weekends”, which the NTA said will impact the timeline of the first phase of the project.
“A major effort is being put in by the NTA to ensure that this project is delivered as effectively and expeditiously as possible,” it said, adding that however, it will take “a number of years to successfully deliver the full solution”.
The NTA said that it will soon be in a better position to provide an “exact implementation date”, when “certain project planning activities have been completed”.
The NTA did not provide any further comment.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The sentences given out for dangerous and careless driving that results in death are unbelievably lenient. Two such drivers recently killed two cyclists were not given custodial sentences.
@Kal Ipers: We just legalised killing.
@Kal Ipers: It’s not black or white – what exactly happened with those two cyclists?
You could be done for careless driving even if a person stepped out in front of you because as a driver you are responsible but in fairness sometimes you just don’t get the chance to stop in time.
When a person is speeding, drunk etc. then a sentence should be applied.
@B9xiRspG: In both cases the drivers were deemed 100% at fault. One of them turned around to take labels off her child’s toy while driving. The other was simply not paying attention and drove into a cyclist. They were black and white cases unless you think there is mitigation in turning around to the back seat and not looking at the road while driving.
@Padraic Reid: Be quite, insane comment
@Padraic Reid: yep
@Steve Monk: how is it a insane comment? He is right.
Why can’t we deport these guys back to their country of origin when they actively break our laws. They add only to our crime stats and contribute nothing but misery! Why should the tax payer pay for the upkeep of these undesirables when they get convicted?
@Paddy: He’s Lithuanian, an EU country.
It’s a beautiful country. Vilnius is absolutely stunning.
@Paddy: Because if the worst that can happen is deportation then the foreigners don’t really get punished and will commit more crimes
@Dave Doyle: Dave, we could deport after they serve their sentence or send them home to serve the sentence there.
End of the day we should ban people that commit crime from our country. I don’t care if they are EU or not.
@B9xiRspG: If you read the original comment from Paddy properly, you will see he advocates deporting criminals before they serve a sentence (read the bit where he mentions upkeep etc). My comment was a reply to this so I am not advocating that we don’t deport them at the end of their sentence or that they don’t serve a sentence back home. Infact I think all foreign prisoners should automatically be deported after completing their punishment. If you read the EU legislation you will find that it does not in anyway prohibit deportation of criminals and that EU and Non-Eu criminals are treated the same in terms of deportation
@Dave Doyle: this guy is a violent criminal with convictions all over the country. If he had been kicked out of the country after the first or second conviction another young man would be alive today, in 2015 the cost to house a criminal was 1800 euros a week. So ya this guy has now cost one man his life and now he’s gonna cost the state millions!
@Paddy: why not to deport all those “undocumented Irish” back home than?
The Gardai and courts system need to be held to account for this case. Personnel within these organisations need to answer and be held accountable for their failures.
@Reg: we don’t do accountability in this country
@Reg: Why the Gardai? They have arrested him numerous times and each time the courts have left him out on bail. The Gardai can’t force the judge to imprison the person. The judges need to be held responsible.
What we really need is, unfortunately, more prisons because right now “minor” crimes are getting off free because there’s no room for them.
@B9xiRspG: Did you see the Prime Time piece last night Jim?
@Dermot Lane: When the Gov start to throw enquries around the place like confette, you can bet that something big is about to hit the fan.
@Dermot Lane: Please leave the referendum banks water charges out of this.
@B9xiRspG: it’s cool to criticise the guards weather it’s their fault or not
@Ohhh_reeally: well they need to be blamed in this case
@Reg: are you satisfied that Prime Time have done a more extensive investigation into the incident than GSOC?
@Joe Bloggs: The GSOC report was the basis for the Prime Time report. Are you happy that an hour or so before Shane O’Farrell was killed that the car was stopped containing Zigimantas Gradzuiska, that he wasn’t insured, the car did not have a valid NCT certificate and he was allowed to continue his journey?
@Reg: could be wrong Reg but don’t the Gardai have to give a person 10 days to present their insurance and can only take the car if they know for sure the person is uninsured?
@Paul: There’s a national insurance database that the Gardai have access to….did they check? Maybe we’ll find out in another 5 or 6 years.
@Reg: no such thing
@Reg: what’s this national insurance database????? One doesn’t exist
@Michael Powell: Been around for a few years as far as I know – http://www.nfd.ie
@Reg: motor tax and nct can be looked up no problem. Insurance DB isn’t relabile as it’s not constantly updated and maintained with valid information because insurance companies and brokers aren’t full on board. Another half ass job
Do you remember we had a referendum to get rid of the right to bail. It passed but we still let dangerous people out on the streets. Didn’t act too quickly on that referendum
@techman: This is the way it works, the guards, solicitor’s/barrister’s, DPP office and Judges all depend on bad people to do bad thing so they can get paid a hansom some. If they keep all these people locked or give harsh sentences to deter would be criminals our legal system and its gravy train wont exist.
@Jamie Jj Tobin: you’re getting stupider and stupider every time you open your mouth
@Ohhh_reeally: can you explain the lenient sentence and large compo rewards the legal system in this country have ever day then? Any normal person would swear they want the courts full of people every day!
@Jamie Jj Tobin: how does that benefit the gardaí? At the district court level outside of Dublin, all court business is handled by either an inspector or superintendent and the individual gardaí don’t attend until the hearing. The situation in Dublin is almost identical, save for the fact that a sergeant is court instead of an inspector. It’s not as if they are making overtime off the backs of giving people bail. It also flies in the face of the fact that gardaí object to bail.
Who let’s these people out on bail??? The judges not the gardai… all these problems lie with the courts letting them out on bail, not enough prison space to keep them on on remand and the fact that they are entitled to take up bail and have it granted for most offences…. how could this be the fault of gardai ?
The massive elephant in the room is the legal aid system and the massive amounts of money the legal profession makes from it. The revolving door bail system guarantees repeated court appearances and multiple payouts for solicitors. There is no way the state will get the better of the lawyers and tough luck to the public.
Why are all the comments about 2 cyclists when the heading is about Varadkar and the supply and confidence agreement ?
Sure we need room in our prisons for tv licence offenders.
I saw his mother on the telly last night. How many convictions does a person have to rack up in this country to be given a long prison sentence.
It’s a shame and joke for families have to fight for justice in Ireland. The gardas are covering up there mistakes. The family has to suffer.
@Cos Sullivan: You’re probably just another fake account. What mistake are they covering up? He has been arrested numerous times, taken to court and let go by a judge, what do you want the Gardai to do?
@B9xiRspG: The gardai have a very big say who gets bail. The judge ask the gardai about his criminal history and do they have any objections to bail.
@Cos Sullivan: you obviously don’t attend courts much. Go to the high Court in cloverhill any day bail cases are been heard and educate yourself
@Cos Sullivan: indeed they do; and in the vast majority of cases, the courts ignore garda objections and grant bail. Even where bail is denied by the district court, the accused person can apply to the high court who will then overturn the district court’s decision more often than not. It is hard to keep someone on remand in this country.
Translation: let’s keep this cushy arrangement going because we’re very unpopular at the moment and mightn’t survive an election.
Are the comments below related to the story above?
@Patabake Kennedy: Is dona linn an briseadh seo… Journal editor has just fallen asleep.
If Martin extends the agreement then he can kiss bye bye to the FF party
@P Quinn: Agree. Time for a GE. Martin might as well run for FG if he can’t figure that out.
Confidence & supply – Jesus wept. It’s a con job supplying the inept pro political hacks in Fianna Gael with massive salaries & all the perks going to enable their rich mates prosper. Can anyone explain how either party differs from the other? No? Thought so – they are two sides of the same self serving coin. Awful.
@Setrakian
Fianna Gael – no such party. Will you explain the difference between SF and the IRA.
Parents please don’t let your children cycle on Irish roads. Especially in cities and large towns – the risk is too great.
GSOC, independent ? Really ?
Nice to see my comment about the harsh reality of contributory negligence has been deleted. Clearly facts on court cases, and the legal standing of tribunals and inquiries aren’t welcome around here
the gardai gave him own bail 4 times
Absolute rubbish to say “had the Gardai been told of the offence in the north he would not have been out”
It’s next to impossible to get someone remanded in custody once the apply for bail. If the first court doesn’t let them out the high Court almost always will
Fianna fail need to grow a pair
Do you rem
If someone commits a crime they should be arrested and put in a jail cell. Not allowed back on the streets. And this man should be deported. The Gardai could learn from the UK police, they do not allow the law to be broken. They take action.
They need to get this enquiry going ASAP and stop chatting about it
I think i cliked on finegeal.com by accident.
No! the blatant disregard for interalia cyclists, by drivers who look at their phones, or back at their screaming kids, while driving has to be stopped, as it has been in all other European countries bar this one…
Moving on swift Lee……breaking news Big High Hen Shaw of Galway Cultural Gig has resigned….apparentently a lot of the Petrie dishes went missing…….get it!!!!!!!!
The sooner these two become one the better.
have your say