Pat Kearney lives in Kells, Co Meath and commutes the 38-mile journey to Organon, a pharmaceutical company in Swords, Co Dublin, where he is a control systems specialist.
"I leave home at 6.50 a.m. and head for Navan, where you lose 15 minutes. Then up the Dublin road, to Skryne, and into Ratoath village. Depending on the time, that could be another 15 to 20 minute delay.
"A left past the church allows you to avoid Ashbourne, but crossing the Ashbourne-Dublin road could take 20 minutes. Then it's bumper to bumper all the way.
" Altogether, it takes an hour and 10 minutes. If I go up the main route through Navan and Dunshaughlin and Swords, it would take an hour and a half.
"I've been travelling there [to Swords\] since 1996 and I used to do it in 45 minutes.
"In the evenings I take a different route, from Swords to the Ashbourne road, and to a crossroads where it will take 20 minutes just to get across. Then another 20 minutes to get through Ashbourne; a lorry broke down there recently and we sat there for 45 minutes.
"Then left at Kentstown, and through Navan where you will be sitting for 20 to 30 minutes.
"Altogether that's 10 to 15 hours a week commuting, on top of your working week. Something will give in the next year to two years. The Government says it is putting industry into areas outside Dublin, but it isn't."
In conversation with
Kathy Sheridan
