Joe Donnelly is the marketing manager for Rascals Brewing Company, a craft beer brewery based in Inchicore, and a former radio presenter and producer. He tells us about his regular drive to work from south Kildare.

Tell me about your regular journey to work

I'm in Calverstown, which is between Kilcullen and Athy in south County Kildare, and for 16 years my route was into the city centre, but one year ago I changed careers and now I'm in Inchicore - which is a lot more accessible.

From Calverstown I go onto the M9, and then the M9 meets the M7 and that's my route.

What time do you leave and get into work?

As anyone will tell you who takes that route, it's soul-destroying almost no matter what time of the day. I do the school run with my children, and I leave my second boy's primary school at The Curragh at 9:15, and I should get into Inchicore before 10am but I never do.

Even then, the traffic is bad, and while three lanes have helped between Naas and the M9, there's always something causing a delay between Kill and the Red Cow flyover.

October, November and December are just the pits. They're always the worst three months and it's hard going. I'm sure someone would be able to put a figure on the cost to the economy but it's such a waste of time and you can't do a thing.

Thankfully, the company I work for are totally sound - 'you're grand, work from home' - but not everyone can do that.

Aside from breakdowns and crashes, what are the major variables that affect how long it takes?

Wet weather contributes to an increase in incidents, and rubbernecking is the other thing. The other evening on the way home, outbound, there were no incidents but on the inbound side there were some flashing blue lights and people were literally slowing down to have a gawk. That is just maddening - it's the worst of human nature.

How do you pass the time?

I mostly listen to my own music. I would listen to the radio now and again, but I'm not as into podcasts as other people seem to be, which makes me feel like a weirdo. I find some of them a bit rambling and I tune out and lose concentration.

It's mostly music and the radio. It gives you thinking time, but if you're in a rage it's hard to think - most of the time you're thinking, 'where the hell is this incident, when't it going to improve?!'.

Do you have any go-to driving music?

No, I don't. There's research that you're more likely to drive faster and more aggressively if you listen to heavy metal, and I would agree, but if I'm stuck in traffic I have to turn off the upbeat tunes because it's mocking me. So I'll put on something quite sedate, maybe some classical piano music.

You know your weekend playlist - I can't do that if five miles down the road I'm stuck in traffic. It'd drive you mad.

Do you have any favourite radio shows or stations?

Today FM and Newstalk - no show in particular, I worked there and I enjoy the mix of programmes and music. You're kept up to date.

What's the best commute you have ever had? And the worst?

The best commute was when I did the drivetime show in TXFM, because I went in after the morning rush and then I went home after the evening rush, and it was absolutely perfect.

When I was doing the breakfast show on Spin, I was up mad early and it was the same but in reverse. The drawback was that I was getting up at 4am and there's only so many years you can keep doing that - unless you're Ian Dempsey.