Icora's Fonaticket service takes online bookings and sends a barcode to each customer's mobile phone. The barcodes are then read by a special scanner at the cinema, confirming the booking and allowing the customer to gain admission.

Louise Kirke, managing director of Icora, said the idea had been enthusiastically received by Irish cinema operators.

"We have been in talks with UCI for a while. Other cinemas have expressed interest as well, " she said.

Fonaticket is carrying out a trial this week, at a preview screening of the new Colin Farrell film Miami Vice, for which it is giving away mobile tickets online.

"This is only a test we're doing at the moment to discover how the public takes to it, " said Kirke, who developed the service with her DCU classmate Donal Foley.

The duo have supported the company from their own resources thus far, with the help of a cash prize they received from winning a student enterprise award.

Should the cinema trials prove successful, Icora will be "researching its funding options" to help fund a commercial roll-out of the technology, she said.