Commuting in Ireland - is it worth it?

Paul Power writes about The Effects of Extreme Commuting in Ireland -

The evening journey is when you're tired from your day working, you're gettng hungry so probably low on energy and then you get into a carraige full of similarly cranky people ( if you've survive the crush to get on ). By the time I arrive at my station I'm typically tired, irritable and probably not great company until I breath in some fresh sea air, hear a few birds and remind myself why we're living so far out from Dublin.

Even though my commutes to work in Cork and Limerick were so insignificant by comparison to the typical Dublin commute I still hated it because I felt it was such a darned waste of life. Working for yourself has obvious negatives in relation to social interaction but the huge benefits of reclaimed time and stronger nerves far outweigh those niggles.