The times they are A-changin'

The Irish Times - Saturday, August 14, 2010Summer time may never end if Government seizes the hour


CONOR POPESUMMER
DOESN’T last forever but summer time might, if the Government follows
the lead of the British parliament, which is to consider plans in the
autumn to permanently move the UK’s clocks forward by an hour.British
prime minister David Cameron has signalled that he may back the changes
and stressed that if the plan sees the light of day, it will be
implemented across the UK. Unless the Government accepts that the times
are a changing too, Newry will move into a different time zone to
Dundalk overnight.
Under the proposal, which is being supported
by British road safety groups and environmentalists, who believe it
will reduce the number of road fatalities and lessen carbon emissions,
Britain will switch to Central European Time.If the Republic
moves too, the sun won’t go down on Galway Bay until close to 11.30pm
at the height of summer, while on the winter solstice, it won’t rise
until at least 9.40am.
Senator Feargal Quinn has sought the abolition of winter time for 15 years and he welcomed the debate.“The
only thing that has stopped it happening has been the Scottish farming
lobby,” he said. Scottish farmers reacted furiously to the proposals
and politicians there warned that children’s lives would be put at risk
because they would be forced to go to school in darkness.
Mr
Quinn said school hours could change in winter to offset any such
dangers and said that even if Britain failed to move, the island of
Ireland should act. “We should be prepared to leave the nursery even if
mammy doesn’t come with us,” he added.Speaking in the Dáil in
June, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said there were “no plans to
change the present summer time arrangements” and his spokesman said
yesterday the position had not changed.
Since the foundation of
the State, our public representatives have spent a lot of time
clock-watching, most notably in 1923, when Britain brought in daylight
saving time and politicians here were conflicted on taking the same
leap into the dark.Speaking in favour of the switch, Senator
James Douglas warned then that having a different time zone to the
North would harden partition, but Senator Maurice Moore was having none
of it.
“I regret that that an Irish government should follow in
the footsteps of an English government,” he thundered. He said the
change would be “just to please a few lazy fellows in the towns who
will not get up early. Why should the poor country people be caused all
these annoyances to please the fellows in the towns?”The
rural-urban divide may be less of an issue today, however. An Irish
Farmers’ Association source said farmers would not oppose a move to
permanent summer time. Technological advances meant it wouldn’t make a
blind bit of difference to the nation’s cows and sheep either.

Won't make a blind bit of difference to mossbags I expect ....