WHILE many of us relished the extra hour in bed last weekend, the twice annual clock change could end up becoming one of the most emotionally charged political issues of our time.
Back in 2019, after years of consultations and discussions, the European Parliament voted to end daylight savings time, and thus the spring and autumn clock changes.
The problem is, the previous British Government stated it had no intention of following the EU plan. This would mean that for six months of every year Belcoo would be in a different time zone to Blacklion, Belleek from Ballyshannon, and so on.
A paper published by a House of Lords Select Committee from 2018 – when the EU first began discussing the possibility of the move – urged the Westminster government to reconsider this, noting it had not assessed the implication of the UK not aligning with the EU’s proposal, nor had it consulted the public on the matter.
“Given the importance of the potential impacts on Northern Ireland and on industries across the UK, we urge the government to do more now to ensure they have the full picture about the consequences of both keeping and abolishing our own clock changes so that the UK can act on evidence-based research when the EU makes its decision about how to manage clock changes in the future,” the report stated.
The EU plan to stop changing the clocks was supposed to come into affect from spring 2021, however the Covid pandemic delayed its implementation, and it fell off the agenda.
However, shockingly, it is actually an Irish MEP who is now leading a campaign to revive the plan – Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly, who has branded the clock change “outdated.”
The Kerry politician doesn’t appear to be aware of the implications, making no acknowledgement of what the plan he is pushing for will mean for the everyday lives of border communities, or even the peace process.
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