The Labour Party spokesman Senator Dominic Hannigan launched a report on 2nd September highlighting issues relating to life in the commuter belt. The Report draws on research carried out across counties Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow in early summer this year.
The report shows that for people living in these areas the quality of life has deteriorated an estimated 30%. Some of the reasons include that people felt that they have no spare time and can’t be involved in events going on in the community they live in. The perception is too that people feel that their commuting time has increased over the last five years by an average of 30% and that they need to spend an additional 80 hours commuting each year just to get to work and a quarter of the residents surveyed have been affected by crime.
Senator Hannigan said that in the last decade there has been significant growth in the population in the towns and villages around Dublin. This had generated considerable debate about commuter issues, yet very little research existed about how the residents of the commuter belt areas feel about their quality of life.
Among the recommendations made in the report was that councils should prioritise developments which offer community benefits e.g. local and national agencies should promote more local jobs in business parks and Gardai numbers should be linked to population growth in areas. Playgrounds and youth facilities should be provided and to ensure that there is enough school places before housing is occupied.
Also recommended was that the quality bus networks should be completed. According to Transport 21 which was embraced in the national development plan 34 billion will be invested in Irish roads, rails buses and trams. The then Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey TD said in July this year that Transport 21 is transforming the quality of life of families and commuters and linking communities together and making it easier to do business right across Ireland. Transport 21 is the largest investment package ever invested in Ireland's transport infrastructure and will be completed by 2015.
Large majorities believe that the lack of facilities for young people is a big problem with only half of the people being within walking distance of a playground. Only one out six said that their council is doing enough to provide lands for parks and sports. A majority of the people said that school class sizes are too large.
A whopping 50% complained about the poor quality of water supply and 60% said that there is not enough recycling facilities
