Here are some comments from Seán Lightholder, regarding the highways in Ireland. I certainly hope we will take the “long way around”!

The last paragraph: “The other real tragedy about these great snakes of motorways is this: Ireland has always been a rural, localised society. Not only do the new motorways bypass this “real” Ireland, but they make it an anachronism. The experience of village life and local isolation that has so defined Irish society throughout history is crumbling away as the snaking motorways stretch out to bite their own tails.“