Should Ireland ditch daylight savings regardless of what the UK and NI do?

the_amazing_raisin

It's that time of year again when everyone wakes up on Sunday morning and tries to remember how to change the oven clock 😁

There was a survey in Europe several years ago about getting rid of daylight savings. The majority of responses were in favour of discontinuing it

However the results were criticised because 70% of the responses were from Germany

The Irish government has also been reluctant to get rid of daylight savings since it would create two time zones on the island?

On the other hand polling among Irish people was generally in favour of abolishing daylight savings

So if it were to result in a time difference between ROI and NI/UK for 6 months of the year, should we go ahead and abolish daylight savings?

Or should we keep it to stay aligned to the UK?

Or option 3, should we align to Central European time? It would result in much darker mornings (~9am sunrise in December), but longer evenings for the whole year (sunset pints at 10pm in June)

EDIT: For the removal of doubt, I'm going to clarify the options:

Removing daylight savings would result in us being aligned to UTC time all year around (brighter mornings, shorter evenings all year)

Aligning to CET would result in us being UTC+1 all year around to be the same as Western Europe (darker mornings, longer evenings all year)

There is also a fourth option of being aligned to European Summer time (UTC+2) but this is possibly too extreme a change

I also can't edit the Poll after posting anyway 😅

the_amazing_raisin

I'll start with the disclaimer that I think daylight savings isn't relevant anymore and should be abolished regardless of what the UK decides

I would also generally be in favour of moving to CET for the longer evenings, particularly in winter. It would give kids a bit more sunlight time after school to play outside

I think it would also be better for motorists since they'd be travelling home in brighter hours. On the flip side however they'd be driving to work in darkness, so probably an even trade

Chris_5339762

The trouble is, during the winter there simply aren't enough hours of brightness. Theres really only about 8.

I don't think any government here would go against what the UK/NI do. An hours difference between north and south will never, ever happen. It'd be just as likely as GB being on one time and NI being on another.

dxhound2005

The idea is to do away with clock changes, to facilitate business. It has nothing to do with making countries align to any given time zone. That is an entirely national decision. No matter what happens, there will be days in the year in Ireland with 16 hours light, and other days with 16 hours darkness. No amount of tinkering with the clock can change that.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396312#Comment_120396312

I agree the government will likely stay aligned to the UK, unless the UK went for different time zones across GB and NI (unlikely)

The question of winter sunlight has always been one of how to best use a limited resource. As you correctly stated, with only 8 hours, it's not really a lot of daylight to use

The general intent of daylight savings seems to be to give longer evenings in summer and brighter mornings in winter

While a worthwhile goal, I think in modern society those have become somewhat irrelevant since our commuting distances have grown so large as to make the brighter mornings nonexistent

Also put work life balance has gotten pretty off skew resulting in people often working outside the typical 9-5 schedule

So personally, I think the best way to spend the daylight hours is to make evenings longer throughout the year. I agree 5pm sunset in December isn't much of an evening, but it will at least give school kids some outdoors time

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396386#Comment_120396386

I could argue then that aligning to CET would be the best case for that 😉

I 100% agree that you can't magically make days longer, but it's a question of how you spend the daylight

As I said, I think brighter evenings are better than brighter mornings, but that's just my opinion, I concede that it won't suit everyone

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396439#Comment_120396439

Time zones are an artifical construct, but they do have a sort of basic attachment to longitude. Every 15 degrees west or east is an hour of daylight/darkness difference. You would be aligning the west of Ireland with the east of Poland which is about 35 degrees difference.

Icemancometh

Secret option 4. Keep daylight savings, but bring forward the hour change to February from March.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396478#Comment_120396478

Some people just want to watch the world burn 😉

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396461#Comment_120396461

Arguably working 9-5 is an artificial construct anyway 😁

Western Spain is at a similar longitude, so it isn't totally bonkers

I believe if we moved to CET (and daylight savings was abolished) it would have the effect of Summertime hours on the clock permanently

Spring forward once, never fall back

It doesn't seem like a massive change tbh

Lastblackdog

One advantage of having different time zones on the island of Ireland would be to spread the peak electricity demand over two hours instead of one. An important consideration in these times of ever increasing costs.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396527#Comment_120396527

The old chestnut it that Spain aligned with Nazi Germany when Franco was in charge, and never went back. Portugal is in the "correct" zone along with us. The Canaries is also in our zone.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396537#Comment_120396537

That's a good point actually, although would probably depend on more interconnection between the two grids

Francis McM

Its grand here being bright in the summer. No need to make it dark an hour earlier. And we need the existing system to have it bright enough for going to school etc in December / Jan.

If it was 2 different time zones in Ireland can you imagine the confusion, especially with old people, going for meetings, appointments, flights etc across the border. Lots of people live along the border and dip in and out. Not going to happen.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396916#Comment_120396916

I think the proposal from the EU parliament was to switch to permanent summer time, so it would be bright evenings in summer and dark mornings in winter

I'm not sure that was explicitly stated however, so it's a topic for debate

I'm not sure the argument for kids getting to school is as valid today as it was when it was introduced

As for border counties, they're already dealing with different currencies, would different hours be that big a deal? Might even be a slight advantage of you're looking to buy alcohol, you'd effectively get two extra off licence hours 😀

dxhound2005

The EU parliament voted to abolish clock changes. Every member state can choose what time zone they want to be in, or invent a whole new one for themselves if they want. Just as is the case now.

NI is in the UK, so a bit of a strange question in the OP.

AndyBoBandy

Get rid of it…….

driving down to Waterford on Sunday morning, and have to leave at 8am….. so it’s really going to be 7am in my brain!!!!

I don’t need this sh1te anymore……

The Continental Op

Can someone explain this to me if we dump daylight saving do we stay at GMT all year around or summer time which if I get this right is what we are heading for at the weekend GMT +1 (aka IST).

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120396425#Comment_120396425

unless the UK went for different time zones across GB and NI (unlikely)

could you imagine how well that would go down with our friends of a unionist persuasion up North……

we should ask them for the craic….

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397041#Comment_120397041

Either of the above, or something different, say GMT+2. Every EU member will choose what they want.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397064#Comment_120397064

Well the thing is its hard to vote for getting rid of summer time if you don't know exactly what its going to be replaced with?

top floor

We are even farther West than Britain so makes even less sense for us to adopt Central European time all year round, especially for the West of Ireland. It would be dark until near 10am during the Winter (even though would also be bright until nearer to 6pm in the evening). Our "true" (solar) midday would be near to 2:30 in the afternoon. That is not too noticeable in Summer but would be very apparent in Winter.

If business advantage was all that mattered why not adopt East Asian time and have a huge advantage in trade over the rest of our neighbours?😉

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397054#Comment_120397054

I'm not gonna lie, I'd give my support to that proposal just for the joy of seeing the DUP reaction

Could you imagine the colour Sammy Wilson would turn 😂

NIMAN

I live in Roi but work In NI.

I'd have to start to wear 2 watches!

elperello

I think we should continue to have one time zone for the island of Ireland.

We don't need any more barriers for business and social life.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397119#Comment_120397119

I expect if it ever gets that far that it will be a vote in the Oireachtas, not a referendum.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397119#Comment_120397119

That is a fair point, I've tried to update the OP to clarify the options

mcburns07

Moving to CET would be a disaster in my line of work, I deal with the West coast of the US most days and being another hour ahead would mean even less overlap of the working days / later calls.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397157#Comment_120397157

I'm not gonna lie, 6pm sunset in December actually sounds nice, might feel like going out and doing something instead of hibernating at home

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120397247#Comment_120397247

I was there as well in my previous job. This is part of the reason I feel daylight savings isn't really applicable anymore, there's a good chunk of the population works outside 9-5

I actually found working later easier rbecause the 5-8pm period was busy trying to get kids collected/fed/bathed/changed/put to bed

I'm more 9-5 now, not gonna go back to working US times if I can avoid it

Jeremy Sproket

Out the **** with it. I voted yes.