Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

It is difficult for anybody who has travelled to another European city where there is integrated ticketing to understand how the Government could have made such a dog's dinner of the project. Proposals in this regard were first made in 1994 and the project was awarded to the Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, in 2000. Some €9.5 million has been spent since then and it seems to have gone down the drain. Does the Minister of State accept it was a serious mistake to allocate responsibility for this project to the RPA, which has no experience or expertise in this field?

This saga can no longer be allowed to drag on. What is the estimated cost of introducing integrated ticketing? Will the Minister of State agree to publish the report of the expert group?

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