A separate letter is to be sent to Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy stating the council believes the transport holding company's stance on the issue means it is treating Lisburn as a 'second class city'.

A letter is also to be sent to Translink again asking for the Dublin buses to pick up passengers in Lisburn City Centre.
The proposal to write to Translink was made by Councillor Bill Gardiner Watson. The writing of a letter to the Minister was proposed by Councillor Jonathan Craig.

He also raised the possibility Translink could be in breach of equality legislation because the Dublin coaches serve the centre of Newry despite the fact the South Down city has a major roads by-pass system.

However, Alderman Jeffrey Donaldson sounded a note of caution on this issue and recommended finding out whether the legislation extended to Translink before any further action was taken.

Service 200 begins at the Europa Bus Centre and serves Dublin Airport before continuing to the 'Busaras' terminus in the city centre.

It calls at Sprucefield Retail Park but this is the closest it comes to central Lisburn and local politicians firmly believe it should serve the new state of the art bus station when it opens.

Ease of travel between Lisburn and Dublin has been a bone of contention for some time.

Several years ago Translink conducted a month long experiment during which certain Enterprise rail services stopped at Lisburn

However, this was not continued and rail passengers have to take connecting services to Portadown where they can join trains travelling to Dublin.

There have also been some complaints from people travelling to Dublin Airport to catch flights about the reliability of the bus service's scheduled stops at Sprucefield.

A Translink spokesperson said they were 'working closely' with Lisburn City Council on the issue and 'considering the options available'.