Irish Rail Smart Card

[Padna]

I have an annual season ticket issued by Irish Rail that is valid for travel between Dundalk and Belfast from 1 Jan 2015 to 31 Dec 2015. At the top it states "Rail Smart Card" and then underneath "Only valid between stations printed". Further down it states "Dundalk - Belfast", then my name followed by "2015".

Today I received my new card for 2016 in the post. It's similar to my 2015 card, except that it doesn't have "2016" after my name, or any other obvious indication as to its period of validity. I'm sure it'll work at the barriers in Dundalk Station, but I can see it causing me difficulties in Belfast, as these Irish Rail cards don't seem to be readable by Translink scanners. Instead the staff at Belfast Central Station or on board the train manually inspect the card. With no period of validity/expiry date printed on it, it certainly has the potential to raise eyebrows.

Have Irish Rail stopped printing the period of validity on these cards? I was thinking of sending it back and asking them for a new one which would clearly show the period of validity, as was the case with this year's card. They've also spelt my surname incorrectly on it, although that's unlikely to cause any problem as it does have my photo on it.