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Cost of living: ‘I would not be able to afford to build and do that commute ... It is another mortgage’

Longford resident Jim Maher watches prices at pumps during his 150km commute which costs up to €500 a month in fuel

Commuter Jim Maher, who travels from his home in Longford to his place of work in Edenderry, Co Offaly. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/The Irish Times

Marese McDonagh
Sat Feb 18 2023 - 03:45

When Longford resident Jim Maher got a job in Edenderry, Co Offaly about two years ago, he remembers checking to see what the train service was like. “I was that naive – but there is no railway in Edenderry. There is a canal – but no canal from Longford to Edenderry.”

Disappointed at the lack of public transport options, the 40 year old did the sums and with diesel at about €1.24 per litre then, he figured “it was manageable”.

Since then fuel prices have soared and the Laois native says the cost of commuting is now considerably more than the cost of his mortgage. Added to that, the financial drain of commuting to work means his dream of building a house in his hometown of Portlaoise is off the table for now.

“I was working in Longford for 17 years and my commute was five minutes. So I went from deciding whether to walk or drive and never even thinking about the cost of diesel.”

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The new job meant a one-hour commute to work or a 150km round trip which was “kind of a shock” given the lack of public transport options. “But I said I have a good car under me and if I could work from home some days, it would be manageable”.

Conscious that he is luckier than many, Maher spends €125 a week, or over €500 a month on diesel. He says he is “feeling the pinch” and is constantly doing calculations in his head wondering for example how feasible it would be to work remotely for part of the week or whether he can he afford to drive home for the weekend.

Because there is no direct train or bus route from Longford to Portlaoise, taking the car is the most feasible option, despite the cost. “I would have to get two trains, a train to Dublin and from there to Portlaoise. It would take three hours instead of one a half hours in the car”.

The manager of a School Completion Programme, a support service for children at risk of early school leaving, he says some of his interactions with staff can be done on Zoom “but I do know how much better it can be in person”.

There are periods when he works from home two days a week, but since Christmas he has been driving to work five days a week, giving him plenty of time to note the prices at the 10 filling stations he passes on the way, mostly along the N4.

And he has learned the hard the way the value of shopping around.

“Today in Longford in the filling station closest to my house, its 173.9 cent a litre and on the N4 at Kanes, just outside Edgeworthstown it was 161.9 cent.”

Because he lives very close to a filling station, he is acutely aware of prices going up and down.

“I was going to work one morning and it was €1.96 and I remember coming home and it was €2.10 and I was thinking ‘where is this going to stop?’. I was like, ‘they only announced the war two hours ago and the price has just rocketed’.”

While it would be “devastating” if the Government decides next Tuesday not to extend the cut in excise duty on motor fuel, he wonders why everyone is so pleased with a 20 cent reduction. “I remember thinking ‘why are we happy that we are still paying €1.80 a litre’.”

When he got his first car after leaving college in 2006 he recalls that diesel was under €1 for a litre.

Maher was delighted to get a job in Edenderry because it is closer to Portlaoise where he wants to eventually live.

“I am hoping to build at home but I have put that on the long, long, long finger because I would not be able to afford to build and do that commute. Do the math. It is another mortgage.

“So yes diesel costs are affecting where I live. I am single. I have a mortgage. I have to pay all the bills everyone else has to pay, singly, on my own.”

He is luckier than many in that he bought a house in Longford at a good time avoiding the huge mortgage repayments and rent which has put many families on the breadline.

“My rent for a three-bedroom house in Longford was €550 six years ago but that same house is now €1200, how could you pay that.”

But those fuel bills are a huge financial drain and a constant cloud over him .”It was on my mind coming up to Christmas and also because I knew I had two weddings in the new year.”

He says the “very least” he is hoping for next week is that the cut to excise duty introduced last March, will remain.

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