Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

There is a problem with the spatial development of the country. The main driver of spatial development currently is the system whereby young people who go to college cannot get a job other than in Dublin. The reality is most young people cannot afford to live in Dublin. What happens then is that they live 30 km, 40 km or 50 km from Dublin and they join the commuter belt. Evidence of this is that the average age in Killarney is now ten years older than in Balbriggan. We are changing the spatial picture in the country because of the lack of spatial development.

This is putting an awful lot of people in a difficult position. County Meath, for example, has the highest number of commuters in the country. Well over 45,000 people leave the county every day to go to work. It happens in no other local authority area that such a large number of people leave. At least 17,000 people are commuting for well over one hour daily and many of them for up to two and three hours. They are in commuter hell. It has a massive effect not just on the environment and the cost in people's pockets but also on families. I have no doubt that many mothers and fathers are getting home so late in the evening they hardly have a small window of time during which they can put their children to bed. Everything is squeezed into an hour and a half of family life. I have no doubt as well that this is leading to significant levels of anxiety among small children because of them not having access to their parents at all during the day. Significant problems, therefore, are occurring in this regard. We either need jobs in County Meath or we need a proper transport system into Dublin. We do not have it. We have been promised the rail line, but it is not going to be built until 2036. It is too long to wait. We need the rail line speeded up as soon as possible.

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