It is estimated that in Dublin alone traffic congestion costs €635 million each year. The average car journey has increased by 57 minutes in recent times. This means that people waste an hour travelling to work and returning home each day. As a result, parents see less of their children. They drop them to crèches at 6 a.m. when it is dark, pick them up again in the evening when it is also dark and, if they are not already asleep, put them straight to bed. That is no quality of life for families. I left Carlow at 6.10 a.m. to drive to Dublin and, even at that stage, there was a constant stream of traffic. I was not able to drive at more than 45 miles per hour on the journey, which is a reflection of the volume of traffic on the roads.