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THE GOVERNMENT PLANS to roll out a national consultation on whether Ireland should scrap daylight savings time.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan is expected to bring a memo to Cabinet tomorrow seeking government approval to allow a interdepartmental steering group lead a national consultation on the issue.
The European Commission has recommended the abolition of daylight savings, advising that seasonal time changes will come into force as soon as 2021.
Minister Charlie Flanagan has previously said he has “an open mind” on the proposals.
The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker proposed to end the changes in Europe next year.
The Commission held a public consultation during the summer and found that 84% of respondents to the online survey were in favour of ending seasonal clock changes.
“We all say in soap-box speeches that we want to be big on big things and small on small things. But there is no applause when EU law dictates that Europeans have to change the clocks twice a year.
“The Commission is today proposing to change this. Clock-changing must stop,” Juncker said.
The changing of the clocks for winter and summer has been a ritual in Europe since 1916, originally conceived as an energy-saving measure.
Summertime arrangements in the EU require that the clocks are changed twice per year in order to cater for the changing patterns of daylight and to take advantage of the available daylight in a given period.
In 2017, former Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said that a report submitted to her in 2014 recommended that the matter of bringing forward the start of summertime be kept under review and that consideration of any trial be coordinated as a joint venture with the United Kingdom, in the event that the UK would consider a similar trial.
“The Committee was impressed by the benefits of introducing summer time for a longer portion of the year and recommended this position be put forward in any future review of European legislation.
“However, particularly in light of the current context arising from the UK’s decision to exit the European Union, I have no immediate plans to pursue this at the present time,” Fitzgerald said at the time.
However, with the Commission proposing that it should be scrapped, the Irish government will now open the matter up for national debate.
With reporting by Adam Daly
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Brilliant idea.
True, but the retailers ain’t gonna like it!
Can I bring my heart? Someone broke it…
Sounds a bit like the Mens’ Sheds idea, the more of these things that spring up the better IMO. People have got used to the throwaway society but there is great satisfaction to be had from repairing things.
Can I bring irish water ?
Idiot
Why would you want to fix that ?
Not exactly the type of cafe from Amsterdam I was hoping for but its a start.
This is a great idea and frankly one that should be adopted countrywide. I would love to learn new skills that would give many old items a new lease of life . We really need to move away from the throwaway culture. When I could afford it I always tried to buy better quality items that are repairable . I am a big fan of upcycling too and would love more techniques on that. The attitude of maintains and repairing and caring for what you own us the ONLY good thing to come out of this recession I think .
Me too, Catherine. I’d rather buy good quality secondhand than bad quality new.
Excellent idea, Fixing stuff when it broke or mending the odd rip in your clothes ( patching your jeans before it became fashionable not to) was taken for granted in my youth. Even taking things apart before they broke, ya know just in case it did break in the future.
A little excess money tends to negate the necessity which of course is the mother of all invention.
A great idea for those people that just need a kickstart to get going,I learned to do repairs many moons ago when I bought my first car,a late sixties Morris minor that had pop up indicators that got stuck, I not only do a lot of my own repairs but also like a lot of DIY addicts learned to recycle and invent new solutions to problems, thereby saving large amounts of dosh in the process, it’s neither compulsory nor is it desirable to pay through the nose for everything, there are alternatives but you do need a good tool kit.
It’s a good idea, would you have to sign a disclaimer that if you got a shock from a broken lamp etc that you wouldn’t sue otherwise I could see the council shutting it down.
I’m not sure they would advocate a lay person doing electrical repairs . You need to be RECI certified for to attempt those.
Well, how did it go?
have your say