Clocks to go back one hour on Sunday morning despite arguments to abolish shift

People will have an extra hour in bed this weekend as the clocks go back, signalling the end of Irish Summer Time or Daylight Saving Time.

A growing chorus of voices arguing to implement a previous European decision to abolish the shift emerged this year in the face of the energy crisis, but no change has been made.

Electronic devices such as smartphones and computers should update automatically at 2am on Sunday morning, moving back to 1am. For those with manual clocks, including wind-up bedside alarms, a manual adjustment will be necessary.

Ireland has, like much of Europe and the EU, been operating on Daylight Saving Time since March 27th, giving the country more daylight in the evenings, With the clocks returning to Greenwich Mean Time this weekend, the days will get darker an hour earlier.

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The practise of Daylight Saving Time is carried out across the EU, despite various attempts to change it in recent years. Daylight Saving Time – or Irish Summer Time – will officially begin again in March 2023.

The European Parliament in 2019 voted to abolish Daylight Saving Time, but amid the Covid-19 and energy crises that have followed, the change has yet to be implemented

The Irish Government has said it will not implement the change unless Northern Ireland, which is no longer subject to the EU decision after Brexit, does so too.

Some figures in Ireland have argued for the abolition to be carried out regardless of whether the EU follows, with wellbeing concerns, as well as potential energy savings from brighter evenings cited as factors.

“The longer the day, the more light we have in the afternoon and evening, the better,” Social Democrat leader Róisín Shortall told Newstalk radio earlier this month. “It also would facilitate people getting out for exercise and generally maybe lift the mood a little bit.”

Fine Gael Cork East TD David Stanton told the Dáil that households could save up to €400 from rising energy bills due to lower demand on the national grid at peak times if the hour is changed.

Minister of State Frank Feighan, responding, said that there were concerns about discontinuity with Northern Ireland and a potential patchwork of time zones across the EU, but added: “If all the countries in Europe, the UK and the island of Ireland jump together we would have a good chance.”