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Ireland will officially move to ‘winter time’ tonight, when clocks turn back an hour to 2am, for what could be the latest time.
While most smartphones, laptops, tablets, and other electronic items will automatically update, older mechanical items will need to be adjusted.
Recently, there has been a lot of debate in the European Union about whether the seasonal time change is still necessary.
Last year, the European Parliament voted to abolish it, and when “winter time” officially ends in March next year, the concept of seasonal change may also end.
The current Brexit problem has complicated things, at least from an Irish perspective.
If Ireland adopts the European Parliament resolution next year, there is a possibility that Ireland and Northern Ireland will end up operating in different time zones, something the Government is trying to avoid.
Citing a recent survey, the Justice Department said that “any change resulting in two time zones on the island of Ireland” would inevitably lead to “greater difficulties for businesses and the general public.”
Fine Gael MEP for Southern Ireland Sean Kelly is one of a group of MEPs who say the concept of daylight saving time is no longer useful.
Speaking today, Mr Kelly said: “We have made great progress on this over the last few years – a small group of MEPs working on this, holding hearings, bringing in experts, conducting research.
“It all pointed to one factor: that changing the watch twice a year was no longer useful and was, in fact, detrimental to society in terms of heart, energy and economy.”
A poll conducted by Ireland Thinks last week found that 47% of the Irish did not want the clock to turn back.
Another 20% said they agreed with the time change, but only because Northern Ireland was also moving towards “winter time”.
31% agreed that the clocks should return to normal and 2% said they were not sure of the change.
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