![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/00244dd4-614.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nIreland’s dependence on fossil fuels in transport is leaving the country exposed to repeated fuel price shocks as global energy markets remain disrupted, the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) has warned.<\/p>\n
Accelerated investment in public transport, active travel, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and grid capacity would reduce this exposure, the council said in the transport chapter of its 2026 Annual Review.<\/p>\n
Temporary emergency responses to fuel price increases were not sufficiently targeted, it said, recommending that those most exposed and least able to avoid fuel costs be given support.<\/p>\n
Welcoming the Government’s pilot scrappage scheme to incentivise the purchase of new EVs, the CCAC said measures were needed to increase EV uptake among lower-income households, particularly in areas with high car dependency and limited access to public transport.<\/p>\n
Expanded EV charging infrastructure and the real-time mapping of EV charging points would give people confidence to transition from petrol and diesel, the report said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was a 6% increase in journeys across the Transport for Ireland network last year compared to 2024, with Local Link journeys increasing by 19%.<\/p>\n
However total public transport journeys was largely unchanged, which the CCAC said could indicate some services are running at near-full capacity, particularly at peak times.<\/p>\n
Accelerated delivery of projects like DART+ South West, Luas Finglas and the National Transport Authority’s Park and Ride Investment Programme would increase capacity, the CCAC said.<\/p>\n
Fossil fuel shocks “are not one-off events” and giving alternatives is the way to reduce exposure to shocks, said Alex White, CCAC Chairperson.<\/p>\n
“That means sustained investment in public transport, a charging network people can rely on, and the grid capacity needed to support the switch to electric across cars, buses and commercial fleets,” he said.<\/p>\n
“This transition also has to be fair. Supports should be targeted at those most exposed to transport fuel costs, particularly people on lower incomes and those who are car-dependent because they do not have access to practical alternatives.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland’s dependence on fossil fuels in transport is leaving the country exposed to repeated fuel price shocks as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-709032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}