Overview
- This week Irish Rail wrote to the National Transport Authority asking that the contract with Spanish firm Indra be terminated after the planned rail traffic‑management system failed safety tests and was written down by about €50 million.
- NTA executives faced sustained criticism at Oireachtas committee hearings for their handling and oversight of the contract and for not disclosing the scale of the problem in earlier statements.
- The NTA says it has not added any new public bus services in 2026 despite record PSO funding of €940 million, citing inflation, rising congestion, shortages of drivers and mechanics, limited depot capacity, and delays in infrastructure delivery.
- The authority disclosed nearly €7 million spent storing 384 battery‑electric buses and pledged all unused electric buses will be deployed by March next year while contactless ticketing validators will begin to appear next year with contactless payments in Dublin planned from 2028.
- Officials warned that deciding whether to end the Indra contract will take weeks to months while they assess litigation and procurement risks, a process the committee was told could cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of euros each week and has triggered a commissioned review due in September.