Subsidising biofuels will only aggravate existing problems

THE sugar beet crisis has prompted calls from politicians, Teagasc and the media to exempt biofuels used for road vehicles from excise duty, and to increase subsidies to farmers growing sugar beet used for producing ethanol for cars and oilseed rape for producing biodiesel.

It is claimed that this will reduce Ireland’s contribution to global warming and dependence on imported fossil fuels. In fact, it would only aggravate these problems, as well as creating others.

Selling biofuels at a cost lower than petrol and diesel can only encourage more traffic - and at 0.2% of fuels derived from fossil oil, it is not going to reduce imported fossil fuel dependence when traffic is growing at 5% per annum.