TRANSPORT minister Martin Cullen has moved to rescue Ireland’s integrated ticketing system after a new report into the ¤30m project found that "urgent" action was needed to ensure it did not end in failure.

This weekend the minister established a high-powered project board that has been told to ensure the technology, commonplace in most advanced countries but long delayed in Ireland, is introduced.

The body is made up of transport chief executives and government officials and is chaired by a former secretary-general of the defence department. It has been asked to set a realistic timetable for the system’s implementation and to advise on how it can be achieved quickly without the complications already experienced.

The move comes after a peer review group study on the project, released to The Sunday Times under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) early last week, said the launch of the technology had reached a critical stage.

The independent assessors, whose work was overseen by the finance department, called on the minister to act immediately. The document, released in part, said: "An immediate and urgent decision is required on whether the project should proceed and, if so, under what governance arrangements and conditions.

"Essentially, the project is at a point where it is either halted, permanently or temporarily, or goes ahead,"

It also said that a successful integrated ticketing system was vital if plans to increase the

use of public transport were to be successful. It pointed out that such technology has become "the norm in advanced economies".

"Dublin city and the country as a whole is lacking in this regard at present, a situation that has not gone unnoticed by foreign tourists, and it conflicts with the desired image of the country," the review found.

Integrated ticketing was first mooted in 2001, but after years of planning and with ¤9.5m spent it has ended up behind schedule with no immediate prospect of its launch.

In April the comptroller and auditor-general expressed concern that money was going to consultants rather than being spent on delivery of the technology.

The comptroller’s concerns followed another FOI request by The Sunday Times in February, which revealed that the project had become bogged down in a bitter feud between state agencies, including CIE and the RPA.

In May, Cullen said he had received a consultants’ report that led him to believe that the delay in the system was caused because "nobody knew what they were talking about" and "everyone concentrated on one issue, namely the card".

He said "significant fundamental issues about money transfers and other governance issues were not addressed".

The new project board will now include the chief executives of the RPA, Dublin Bus, Iarnrod Eireann and Bus Eireann. It will include an assistant secretary from the transport department and a representative of private transport interests. David O’Callaghan, a former secretary-general of the defence department, will be chairman.

A spokeswoman for the minister said its main task would be to "oversee the delivery of the project in a timely manner". It will report directly to the minister on what arrangements and procedures are needed.

It is understood that Cullen will bring his plans for the Dublin Transportation Authority (DTA) to cabinet for approval this week.

As reported by The Sunday Times last month, the new body will see current agencies stripped of their powers with CIE losing control of Dublin Bus. The authority will be in charge of the procurement and operation of all public transport in the greater Dublin area. Under the move the Dublin Transportation Office, the planning agency which was set up in 1995, will be abolished.

The DTA will have the power to set fares and will be in charge of projects, some of which are already in the planning stage, such as Dublin’s two metro lines and the underground rail interconnecter between Heuston station and Spencer Dock.

New legislation will be needed to give the authority the necessary powers.

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