Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I very much appreciate that this is a serious issue in the context of certain areas of business and of doing business with Europe and the United Kingdom. In advance of the second reading of the Bill, Mr. Edward Davey, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, sought a meeting with our ambassador in London to discuss issues concerning daylight hours. The meeting took place in November 2010.

In February 2011 officials from my Department and our London embassy met the Bill's sponsor, Ms Rebecca Harris, MP, in order to find out more about the background to her Bill as well as to register our interest in its passage and the potential implications for this country. Although there has been contact with the British authorities, no discussions have been held with our European colleagues on this matter as the matter is not at a sufficiently advanced stage.

In the context of our doing business with the United Kingdom and the relationship we have with that country, it is important to be on similar time zones. It would be a particularly unfortunate situation were we to find ourselves in a position where Northern Ireland was on one time zone and we were on a different one. This island is too small for that type of development. All I can say to the Deputy is that this is not an immediate priority - I do not want to pretend otherwise - in the context of the various major issues the Government must address. We will keep a watchful eye on developments in the United Kingdom. We are very conscious of the implications for the State of what is being suggested there. We will try to ensure we are not lost in a timewarp at the end of the process.

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