While the skies over the Middle East glow with the fire of 'retaliatory' strikes, the Irish government has found a new way to squeeze its own citizens: charging them for the privilege of not dying in a war zone. As thousands of Irish and British nationals remain trapped in the fallout of the US-Israeli assassination of Ali Khamenei, the mask has slipped on what 'state protection' actually looks like. It looks like a bill for €800.

The Irish embassy in the UAE recently announced that a seat on a chartered flight from Oman to Dublin will cost nearly double what the UK government is charging its own subjects. Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee had the audacity to claim this price is 'substantially reduced.' Reduced from what? The price of a private jet for a Davos-bound NGO consultant? This is profiteering, plain and simple. The state helps facilitate the geopolitical instability that leads to these conflicts, and then it hands the invoice to the families desperate enough to escape the resulting chaos.

Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire rightly pointed out that the 'last thing' people need is to worry about whether they can afford to survive. But for the neoliberal elite in Dublin, every crisis is a market opportunity. Why is a flight to London £350 while a flight to Dublin is €800? Who is pocketing the difference? Is this the price of 'European solidarity'? We are told the elderly and medically vulnerable are being prioritised, but in the reality of the market-state, the only real priority is the bottom line.

This isn't just a travel dispute; it's a window into the future of the West. As the Middle East slides into a regional war—a war fueled by the same institutional powers our leaders suck up to at every summit—the common citizen is being told that their safety is a commodity. If you can't pay the toll, you stay in the blast zone. The regime doesn't see you as a citizen; it sees you as a stranded asset with a credit card. How much longer will we pay for our own betrayal?