The transport watchdog has received over 200 complaints about taxis not accepting card payments, or not having a card payment machine.

The complaints, released to Newstalk under the Freedom of Information Act, were made in the space of five months.

Since last September, every taxi in Ireland must accept credit and debit card payments as well as cash.

By the end of last month, the National Transport Authority (NTA) had received 229 complaints relating to this new law.

A Visa credit card and Mastercard debit card. Picture by: Karol Serewis / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

Jim Waldron is a spokesperson for the National Private Hire and Taxi Association.

"I don't think 229 complaints, in regards to the millions of journeys that take place since this compulsory credit card transaction payment had come in, I don't think it's that much to be honest," he said.

"I think it'll drop further down as time goes by."

In one complaint, a driver did not accept a card payment because he said he did not have a machine.

He was asked if he would accept Revolut instead, but he declined and said he would only accept cash.

The NTA issued the driver with a fine.

Taxis in line on Dublin's O'Connell Street in 2013. Picture by: Wanderley Massafelli/Photocall Ireland

In another case, a driver refused to take a card payment and when the passenger explained to him it was mandatory, he told the passenger to take cash out of an ATM.

The passenger did not take the journey.

The NTA also issued a fine in this case.

In another case, a driver claimed he would have to charge commission on a card transaction.

Main image: A smartphone is held at a payment terminal in January 2020. Picture by: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA/PA Images