Monaghan Town bus station has been described by local councillors as a "dump" and like "something from a third world country".
Bus Éireann representatives met with the Monaghan MD this afternoon and acknowledged that the station "needs a lot of investment".
At today's MD meeting, councillors hit out at the condition of Monaghan Town Bus Station, calling it "sub-standard" and a "dump".
Sinn Féin's Sean Conlon expressed concern about the poor condition of the toilets, the lack of sheltering, and the closure of the coffee dock.
Meanwhile, Paudge Connolly questioned the decision to scrap an early morning Dublin Airport route and the inability to divert a now defunct local bus enquiry number to the new national phone line.
Elsewhere, Seamus Treanor said the toilets were "filthy" and claimed that people who have "travelled to third world countries have not seen something so bad" as Monaghan bus station.
Adrian O'Loughlin is Bus Éireann's regional operations manager for the East.
He told the meeting that the coffee dock is privately contracted and closed during covid, but he's hopeful it can re-open in the coming weeks.
He also acknowledged that the station "needs a lot of investment" but added that a lot of money has been spent in improving lighting and heating and that a plan for further investment is in place.
As regards the national phone line, Mr O'Loughlin said he has a "duty" to ensure people phone it instead and acknowledged an "oversight" in not diverting the defunct local number to the national line.
Meanwhile, Mr O'Loughlin told the meeting that while he appreciated the importance of airport routes, they must "meet costs and turn a profit".
However, MD Cathaoirleach David Maxwell replied that the service was not reliable and people were "scared to use it", which resulted in the route becoming unprofitable.
He added that "if you put a service on, it needs to be on time".
