Clock proposal is not a bright idea, argues councillor

A NORTHSIDE councillor has criticised proposed legislation to move the clocks forward all year round.

Artane Whitehall ward councillor Larry O’Toole (SF) was speaking after Dublin North East TD Tommy Broughan brought forward legislation that would allow for consideration of whether the clocks in Ireland should be moved forward by one hour throughout the year. It would mean there would be brighter evenings all year round.

Deputy Broughan brought forward the Brighter Evenings Bill 2012, which was recently debated in the Dáil, as he believes the potential to change our time should be properly debated.

Cllr O’Toole said he doesn’t agree with the proposed legislation.

“One reason we shouldn’t adopt this piece of legislation at the moment is the fact that we cannot have a different time zone in the 26 counties and six counties,

? he told Northside People.

“It would make absolutely no sense to adopt a different time zone in the south to that in the north.

“Can you imagine a situation existing where for instance, Dundalk would have a different time zone to Newry.

?

Ireland adopted an experiment for three years (1968-1971) of retaining summer time throughout the year. It was decided to revert to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) because of reports of an increase in casualties on the roads among school-going children.

Cllr O’Toole said he remembered the experiment.

“While we had an extra hour’s daylight in the evening, children were going to school in the pitch black dark,

? he added.

“Because of the inherent danger of this it was decided to revert back to the previous arrangement.

?

As part of the Bill, the Minister for Justice would bring together an independent group of stakeholders and other key stakeholders to prepare and publish a report on the costs and benefits of Ireland advancing its clocks forward by one hour.

The independent stakeholders would include the Road Safety Authority (RSA), departmental officials, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA)

Secondly, the Bill allows the Minister to bring forward a daylight saving order so that we would have a three-year trial period in which the clocks would not be put back in October of the first year and in the March of the following year they would be put forward by an extra hour.

Effectively, the change would bring Ireland into line with the Central European Time Zone which is in operation in 16 of the 27 Member States of the EU.

Deputy Broughan believes that advancing the clocks by one hour would have many benefits including:

?¢ Improved well-being and happiness for citizens as there would be more hours of daylight that could be used productively (in the evening rather than the morning).

?¢ Improved outcomes for road safety as the roads are more dangerous from the hours of 4-7pm.

?¢ Economic benefits because of increased opportunities for the tourism and leisure industries and the retail sector.

?¢ A reduction in crime and fear of crime and

?¢ Reduced energy consumption because of less need for artificial light in the evenings with a consequent reduction in CO2 emissions.

Deputy Broughan acknowledged that that there would be challenges associated with the change.

“These potential difficulties could be considered by the independent group of stakeholders established to consider the change,

? he added.

“Furthermore, I strongly believe the many benefits to be gained from daylight saving outweigh the potential negative effects of such a move.

?