Those of us who travel through Kildare to the Oireachtas cannot help noticing the rapid growth of housing estates outside Dublin, as far as Portlaoise and Carlow. Even without a spatial strategy being published by the Government, people have been exercising their choice in the only way they can by buying houses very far away from where they work. The number of people commuting from Carlow, Portlaoise, Mullingar and Tullamore, for example, is increasing at a huge rate. The reason is simple. The crisis in affordability has forced people further away from Dublin and their place of work. This has put increasing pressure on other infrastructure such as roads because increasing numbers of people are forced to travel longer distances every day to work. Lack of housing policy is having a severe effect on other policy elements and how the Government does its work.