Warning: Vital inter-city bus routes may close unless politicians intervene

There is a warning today that vital inter-city bus routes will close if politicians do not intervene.

Consultants have told Bus Eireann to axe its Expressway service completely.

The report, seen by the Irish Independent ,says getting rid of the route which links major towns and cities around the country would be the 'most viable option' financially.

The national bus and rail drivers union, the NBRU, is worried about job loses.

But General Secretary Dermot O'Leary says it's bigger than that: "The whole western seaboard and the midwest of this country relie almost exclusively on Bus Eireann expressway.

"It is about time that politicians across all parties would wake up and step up to the plate here and try and get some resolution to the issue and fight to protect the vital social and economic services that serve every nook and cranny of this country."