Last night.

Prime Time on RTÉ One.

Kellie Dempsey leaves Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty speechless.

Kellie and her boyfriend Glenn Doyle moved for cheaper rent to Navan while commuting to Dublin.

She had earlier described their daily travel schedule:

They leave home by 7am, drive together for 20 minutes to the station, where Kellie takes the train into the city.

She has a further 20-minute walk to get to her office in Merrion Square. After dropping Kellie, Glenn drives to Sandyford, south Dublin.

Their round trip is three hours, on a good day.

Commuting For  A Living (Louise Byrne, RTE)

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38 thoughts on “Commuter Belt

  1. 01101101 01100011

    jesus f christ David McCullough??

    he’s in, around the ‘keeper, ball at his feet, an open goal, he can’t miss surely, 6 yards out aaaand he’s skied it!!! ball in the estate behind the stand

    how in jasus did he miss?
    brain failure? afraid for his job or Regina’s cops?

    1. GiggidyGoo

      The puss on Doherty and Mccullough failing in his duty to have her debate it tells its own blueshirt story.

  2. newsjustin

    I’ve said before that while removing the “woman’s special place in the home” clause of our constitution, we should insert a quality of life clause – one that seeks to ensure that both parents are not forced, by economic necessity to leave their homes before dawn to go to childcare and work and only see their children again after dark.

    That would be a radical quality of life step.

    1. class wario

      I think recent events have shown that trying to deal with multi-faceted issues like this by way of constitutional amendment is a poor fit at best. In any case, these things tend to be qualified quite broadly at the best of times. Better that we elect politicians who will engage in radical solutions to these problems and hold them to account in the event they don’t instead of expending the same energy pushing an ineffective constitutional amendment through.

  3. Charger Salmons

    Jaysus the sense of entitlement.
    Hundreds of thousands of people have the same sort of commute into London every day to get to work.
    It’s the same in any major metropolitan city – you want to live in the inner city you pay for it.
    Cry me a river.

    1. Stan

      I lived for a while in Bucks, 30 miles from London. I could be in the West End in under an hour thanks to a 25 min mainline train journey and the tube. Navan is closer to Dublin than that, and I would tink it would take twice as long to get to Merrion Sq.
      So yes, this happens elsewhere, but transport solutions are provided from the public purse to ensure it works

      1. Charger Salmons

        True.
        But even with a good connected transport system you have to make sacrifices.
        If the quality of life you seek involves green fields and less pollution you have to travel to get it.
        If you want to live a short Uber ride from theatres,restaurants and bars it will cost you because, of course, lots of other people want to do that too.
        This is just some whinger who wants the best of both worlds without having to pay for it.
        Doherty should have given her both barrels but this is an election and politicians have to wind their neck in.

          1. Ghost of Yep

            You spend countless hours here pretending to be someone and trying to wind people up. I’m not the fool here old chum.

          2. Charger Salmons

            And who are you pretending to be … Ghost of Yep ?

            Lord protect us from sillies like this …

      2. Cian

        Stan,
        I can get from Drogheda (30 miles from Dublin) to O’Connell Street in under an hour thanks to a mainline train.
        Not everywhere 30 miles from Dublin or London has a mainline train.

    2. Wilhelm

      Are you comparing Dublin, a provincial city (in global terms), to London? Dublin is way too small to be having London problems. Wake up people, we don’t live in Manhattan, London, Tokyo or Paris.

    3. Dr.Fart

      the entire comment became irrelevant when you said “London” .. because you see, Dublin.. is not .. London.

  4. class wario

    Even within Dublin it’s a farce. Still probably the best public transport system in the country which says it all. Unfortunately, smart solutions will be pushed aside in order to build tower blocks of box rooms in order to enrich certain developers or awkwardly extending the luas here and there.

  5. Harry

    Urbanization of populations is not an Irish trend, nor is associated long commutes, though our public transport leaves a lot to be desired. So people working in cities that are starting families are going to be lumped with long commutes in most places.

    All the more reason for a serious campaign for a four day working week, and flexible working arrangements. A lot of work places are now offering a day a week working from home, which takes the sting out of the commute. And a govt department (can’t remember which) is currently accepting public consultation submission on flexible working arrangements – we should all respond.

    And as for a four day week, granted that it may be tricky in certain industries but that is also something that commuters should be pressing for. It’s a long time since workers won the right to a weekend and annual leave, this is the next win, sure don’t we have robots and computers to do all the work now anyway!

    There’s so many wins be having flexible arrangements and a four day work week including less people using transport infrastructure at peak times, less office space needed, more free time to contribute to the service economy. There’ll be difficulties too but so wha

    Commuting times might improve marginally but they’re not going away. The focus should be on spending fewer days in the office than time commuting.

    1. Charger Salmons

      Excellent post.
      As a single man I used to live just off the Kings Road in Chelsea.
      When I got married and had kids I moved to a nice suburb where it took me an hour and 15 minutes to get to work.
      This was considered normal and has been for generations in that there London.
      Why should Dublin be any different ?
      The only thing that will change is how people work.Technology is gradually removing the need for large numbers of people to make long daily journeys to sit in an expensive office.

        1. Charger Salmons

          Yo , it’s the same in cities all over the world.
          If you choose to work in Merrion Square you really don’t want to be commuting from Navan and expecting an easy journey.
          I’m guessing you’re not too far up the food chain in the employment stakes, am I right ?

        2. Ghost of Yep

          What is the same? Commute time? It’s not. Sure why isn’t everywhere like Tokyo..or Stockholm…or Montevideo.

          London has an underground. Dublin does not. That is the ONLY thing I have to mention that puts your stupid fuppin statement to bed. Have a great weekend. I’m sure you’ll be around here with nothing else to do with your life. Bless

          1. Charger Salmons

            You think everyone who commutes into London goes by Tube ?
            Let’s take East Grinstead, about 30 miles from London.
            It takes an hour to get into London by train.Minimum.
            You’ve then got to get from your arrival station to your office.
            Walk.Bus.Tube ?
            You’re still looking at a three hour daily commute.
            People do it all their lives and don’t whinge like that woman.
            As I say it’s the self-entitlement that’s risible.Like she has a tough life.

    1. 01101101 01100011

      +1
      either that or afraid for his job or a total brain failure. dreadful.

      why on earth didn’t he challenge Regina to respond?

    1. Dr.Fart

      oh she probably has enough votes from people of her ilk to keep her in. unfortunately the very people she hurts, people on welfare etc., are statistically vote in very low numbers.

      1. GiggidyGoo

        Her snide attacking of Helen McEntee in the Leinster House corridor has riled the FGers in Meath. Doherty is on the way out.

  6. broadbag

    One of the reasons her house was affordable in Navan was due to the exact issue she’s complaining about so seems they didn’t do much research before buying/renting there, you can’t have it both ways (unfortunately, wish you could.)

    1. Paulo

      Exactly – it’s not a fun situation to be in but deciding to move to Navan for a bigger house when you work in Merrion Square and Sandyford makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If they worked in the IFSC and Blanchardstown maybe, but they cannot be surprised at their commute time. There is very little the “government” could do to to change the variables around living in Navan and having to be in Dublin city centre / south county for 9am – even with a better transport system you’re talking about a long day.

      The reality is that living in central Dublin is a luxury that will require a well paid job and you still have to fork out a lot in rent / mortgage. The trade off for living in a bigger house / further out is a longer commute.

      They might want to do their research too regarding emigrating – from what I know, Toronto / Vancouver / Auckland / Sydney etc are not exactly cheap property markets so the issue could well be the exact same.

      1. Otis Blue

        And yet there are quite a number of brownfield sites in the docklands and Poolbeg – accessible to the City Centre – that could provide affordable housing for people working in town.

        Not to mention the vast swathes of vacant and derelict properties within the Canal Corden that could be repurposed.

  7. Garthicus

    My commute via train from Skerries to Dun Laoghaire was ~2 hours each way for the past 5 years (by the time I leave the house, walk to the station, wait, switch at Pearse, get to DL and walk to office etc etc). I’ve recently moved jobs to Ballymount and drive, now its ~1 hour each way.

    That’s an inter-Dublin commute, I choose to live in Skerries, much as they chose to live in Navan. Whether you like it or not, there’s always a price to pay with commuting whether it be time or money.

  8. italia'90

    IBEC: The problem with Dublin is, it’s fuII of expensive Dubs!
    FG: HoId our Liebfraumilch!
    FF: Anything you ask
    Siptu: Have you seen our new 3 wise monkeys impression?

  9. D

    eh, only after dawning on me now but…

    is moving to navan emigrating? really?

    more of a transportation than an emigration but shur lookit…

  10. A Person

    Bodger, I know you have a gra for the Social Democrats, but any chance when you publish tweets by Mick Caul that you could credit him with being part of the SD’s management team? Just to show that he might have an agenda?

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