Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said that if he had to "knock any more heads together" to get an integrated ticketing system for public transport, "there would be very few bones left".
He told the Dáil he had had more meetings on this issue than on any other and it had been "deeply frustrating", and "some of the practices involved have been unacceptable". However, a peer review of the issue would be concluded within the next few weeks and he expected to make decisions then on the next steps to be taken.
Green Party spokesman Eamon Ryan said it was "remarkable that 12 years after the original Dublin transportation initiative report in 1994 set out the clear recommendation to move towards integrated ticketing as soon as possible, we have no effective integrated ticketing".
Fine Gael spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell said the main obstruction was from the State public transport companies, which did not want to co-operate with other State companies or private operators. "It is unacceptable that they should hold the public to ransom," she said.
Mr Cullen said there was no benefit in "playing the blame game", because an integrated system was required.
