The Government must plan now to build a Tuskar tunnel link to mainland Europe via Wales within 20 years, a business lobby group has said.
Publishing its annual transport survey, the Chambers of Commerce Ireland (CCI) said nearly three quarters of companies believed such a tunnel linking Ireland's road network to Britain and Europe was important to Irish business.
The survey found that seven out of 10 companies in a survey of 600 business leaders are dissatisfied with the level of investment in non-national roads.
The CCI Transport Users' Survey 2005 also found that four out of 10 respondents were unhappy with government investment in national roads. Some 29 per cent were not satisfied with investment in Irish ports, while 23 per cent were satisfied.
A total of 52 per cent were dissatisfied with investment in passenger and freight rail services and 47 per cent were not happy with investment levels in Irish airports.
Some 46 per cent of businesses said the one piece of transport infrastructure which, if put in place, would benefit business, was general improvement in national and non-national roads.
This rises to 59 per cent when improvements to motorways and more bypasses are included.
Dissatisfaction levels with the road network were highest in the west of Ireland, where 56 per cent were unhappy with national roads and 78 per cent with non-national roads.
A total of 71 per cent of companies said they had experienced negative effects on their business as a result of traffic congestion in the last 12 months. Over a third had delivered goods late to clients as a result and over half had lost working hours because of traffic congestion.
CCI chief executive John Dunne said: "While there is a high level of dissatisfaction with roads, we do acknowledge that progress is being made.
"However, if we're serious about driving regional development then the Minister must publish a schedule for the construction of the Atlantic Roadway from Letterkenny to Waterford with a completion date by 2011 at the latest. Transport 21 needs to be more than mere optics.
"We need real, quantifiable metrics set out now, against which the plans success can be measured and judged."
Mr Dunne also said planning for the design, commissioning and completion of a Tuskar tunnel must begin now.