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Editorial: We must move fast to safeguard our gas arrangement with Britain

If our government thinks a technical arrangement wouldn’t be superseded by a political one in the event of emergency gas shortages this winter, it is guilty of naivety

While a handful of countries across the EU have already been either fully or partly cut off from Russian gas, the rest of the continent is now preparing for the worst. Picture: Getty

There is something unnerving about the contrast between Ireland’s seemingly relaxed attitude to gas shortages this winter and the frenzy of activity across Europe in preparation for what many now believe is an inevitability.

As revealed in today’s newspaper, the European Commission this week will tell member states to start cutting their gas use immediately, and will upgrade the EU’s gas supply emergency status as the likelihood of shortages this winter increases.

The concern is ...