Daily commutes have become ‘a nightmare’ for Kildare workers - TD

A Labour TD for Kildare South has told the Dáil that daily commutes have become “a nightmare” for Kildare workers due to congestion issues.

Deputy Mark Wall told the House that workers are leaving their homes “at 6am” to commute to work on Kildare's M7, N7 and M9 roads.

The Labour TD was speaking on November 10 when “Toll Charges and the Cost of Living: Motion [Private Members]” came before the House.

Thanking Sinn Féin and Deputy Pa Daly for addressing the issue and bringing forward the motion, Deputy Wall also welcomed the fact that the Minister was present to hear the debate.

Deputy Wall said: “For the area that I represent, which is Kildare South, commuting is a way of life forced on families due to the lack of availability and high cost of housing, aligned with the continued rolling back on the advantages of working from home for so many.

“As a result, commuting on the M7, N7 and M9 has become a nightmare for workers. Workers are leaving their homes at 6 a.m. only to be stuck in traffic for anywhere up to two to three hours. It is a car park.

“Recently I spoke to a constituent who commutes from Rathangan in Kildare South to Dublin for work each day. That person spends six hours a day stuck in a car and for many commuters this is their daily reality. Many of those I have spoken to now leave their town in Kildare South an hour earlier just to beat the traffic.”

That is the “mental hardship” that affects these families and more, Deputy Wall said.

Deputy Wall told the Minister that the Labour Party and he had previously proposed a range of measures to address and help the ongoing traffic congestion, but that this was rejected by the government.

Deputy Wall said: “The simple fact is that many commuters in Kildare South have no option other than to take to their cars because of the underinvestment in the public transport system. Towns like Athy, Newbridge, Kildare town, Rathangan, Kilcullen and Monasterevin have become commuter towns.

“However, the transport infrastructure to meet the capacity and frequency requirements of these growing communities is not there, while public transport does not align to their work schedules. For example, the first train from my home town of Athy to Dublin departs at 6.41 a.m. each morning.

“That is too late for the many whose work demands that they have to arrive before eight o'clock, leaving them with no option but to start up their cars and join the car park.

“Athy, like so many towns, has become a commuting town for the reasons I outlined earlier. In rural Ireland, rural Kildare and all these urban settings, people have no choice but to use their cars. That is why the toll hike is so hard on commuters. They simply do not have any alternative.”