Daylight savings is not practical

Senator Deirdre Clune has called the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan Government to amend the current daylight saving system by keeping Ireland on ‘Summer time’ all year round. This weekend the clocks will go back one hour.

“It is my view that we should be looking into changing the present time zone arrangements or at least to conduct an analysis on the benefits of abolishing daylight savings for Ireland.

“The time shift is supposed to allow for brighter mornings, helping to prevent accidents and allowing people to wake up to sunlight rather than in darkness. However during winter, most of us get up in the morning before the sun comes up. Therefore it is debatable if this advantage is relevant.

“Also the time change results in longer and darker evenings therefore most people have to travel home from work in the dark. So while people may travel to work when it is brightening, people are then forced to commute home in darkness during the winter months. Either way one leg of the journey either to or from work is in the dark despite daylight savings.

“I think it would be more socially beneficial to have an extra hour of light in the evening for leisure time instead of having unnecessarily long winter nights. The shift in time can create havoc in people’s lives by disrupting their routine. This is particularly relevant to the elderly who can be easily confused and for those who have young families.

“If Ireland did scrap daylight savings it is my view that in the future we should be moving in line with Central European Time (CET) which would have obvious advantages for businesses that deal with companies abroad. We now do much of our business with Europe so having a similar time zone which is in line with the CET makes sense economically.

“Ireland needs to at least explore at what the potential economic and social benefits of getting rid of daylight savings might be. Lower road deaths and improved health have been put forward over the years as possible benefits but the cons are also clear – the change is confusing, inconvenient and in my opinion the benefits are questionable.”