Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At a meeting with a delegation from Roscommon last week a question was asked about the withdrawal of services from Ballina to Dublin. It sounded like a fairly extreme question but the answer justified asking it. The question was as follows: if Bus Éireann decided to remove every stop between, say, Ballina and Dublin, could anything be done about it? I understand from listening to the witnesses that there is nothing they could do about that. What role do they play here if they cannot do anything about it? What is their purpose?