Unnecessary round trip to cast vote

Dear sir - On a very important day in the future of our country, I find myself extremely annoyed at the current divisions within the electoral area of Meath East. My family and I received our polling cards for Carlanstown NS, causing a bit of surprise to us all, considering we have voted in Kilmainhamwood, for the past 29 years we have lived at Altmush. In our innocence, we believed that Kilmainhamwood polling station was closed. This morning, to our astonishment, Kilmainhamwood polling station, was open and ready for business. The reason for my anger is that the six people in my house, have each to travel 26 kilometres round trip to vote, when the polling station we have used for the last three decades is only a two kilometre round trip. It also infuriates me more that Nobber, and most probably other polling stations, are closer than the 'trek' to Carlanstown. There are a number of issues I wish to highlight here: In total, 156 kilometres are travelled by my family and I. That is more than the round trip I make every day to work in Dublin city centre. The environmental issues alone are scary, considering I am only referring to my family in this letter. How many other people in our constituency have now a much longer round trip to make to vote? There are also cost issues involved, with the price of petrol nearing €1.50 per litre, and diesel not far behind too. Why fix something that's already working? Is it that there are simply too many people working in Meath County Council and not enough work? Perhaps they could go out and fill in the many potholes that I encounter on my journey from Altmush to Carlanstown! I leave my house each morning at 6am and return each evening at approximately 7pm. I now have to get into the car this evening and waste precious time, albeit for a very important reason, going 26 kilometres, when I could just pop down the road to cast my all important vote. These days, too many people sit at home and complain about the way that our country is ran. I will cast my vote this evening and deal with the consequences of the Government of the next number of years knowing I have had my say, but I will not sit back and take the nonsense that is the way the divisions of Meath East electoral division are made up. Yours, Catherine O'Reilly, Altmush, Kilmainhamwood, Kells.