LAST WEEK, THE government responded to rising fuel prices by making it cheaper to drive.

Not to move differently, not to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but to double down on it. Maintain business as usual at all costs.

This is not new. In fact, it is the standard political response. Crises like these are treated as temporary shocks that will pass, anomalies, rather than warnings of what is to come. Instead of preparing for the future, we reinforce the systems that caused the problem in the first place.

The result is a society that remains exposed to the volatility and harms of fossil fuels. This deepens energy and food insecurity, increases transport poverty, worsens inequality, damages public health and delays meaningful climate action.

The human and planetary cost is already clear. Transport emissions in Ireland account for over 20 per cent of the total and have barely declined in recent years. Air pollution causes around 1,700 premature deaths each year in Ireland alone.

Donald Trump and the newly appointed supreme leader in Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Alamy Alamy

The primary driver is our continued reliance on fossil fuels. Every euro spent on further fossil fuel subsidies, regardless of the justification, drives further mortality and morbidity, not just here, but globally, as a consequence of accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss.

These subsidies are also expensive. This latest package costs 235 million euro. While some support for pensioners, carers and people with........

© TheJournal