Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Transport if he intends to bring forward integrated ticketing and smartcard technologies; if money has been allocated for this purpose in his Department's Estimates for 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11026/04]

Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Transport if he intends to bring forward integrated ticketing and smartcard technologies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11023/04]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 78 and 87 together.

The Railway Procurement Agency, RPA, has statutory responsibility for the implementation of an integrated ticketing system based on smartcard technologies for initial deployment in the Dublin area. The RPA has set a target date of end 2005 for the launch of the full smartcard-based integrated ticketing system in Dublin. It continues to examine all options to expedite the delivery of integrated ticketing with a view to bringing forward the proposed launch date. A first step was the launch last month of a smartcard ticketing system by a private operator, Morton's, on its services while another important step will be the launch later this year by the RPA of smartcards on Luas services with Dublin Bus introducing its system next year.

In the meantime, integrated tickets, based on magnet strip technology, are available for travel on Dublin Bus and Irish Rail services and I understand that the Railway Procurement Agency is about to conclude a similar arrangement with both companies in respect of Luas services. The allocation for integrated ticketing in the 2004 Estimates for my Department is €9.5 million.