Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Broughan for his Bill and for creating this very interesting debate. It could be said we are time travelling this morning. I see Deputy Dooley, who was very exercised at the start, did not have the time to stay with us for the debate, having engaged in a grandstanding exercise. This Bill is an example of part of the reform the Government introduced where Members on all sides of the House have an opportunity on a Friday to debate legislation and to bring forward Private Members' Bills. That did not happen when Fianna Fáil was in government for 14 years but it is an important Dáil reform. I was about to say it is disappointing to see the sort of play-acting Deputy Dooley engaged in on this measure this morning, in particular, as the Fianna Fáil Party has not done the courtesy of having a single Member in the House for the debate, but I welcome him back.

In regard to what is in this Bill and what is proposed, I got into trouble some months ago - Deputy Finian McGrath got particularly engaged - when I described myself as the Minister responsible for time. The oddity of political life is that the issue of time and the change of time every six months is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice and Equality. One is entitled to regard it both as a serious issue and to be a little amused by it. I mention Deputy Colreavy's contribution, in particular. We should encourage more poetry in this House. It was a mixture of a serious and an amusing contribution. If we could debate issues in that way, it would certainly improve the atmosphere in the House.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this Bill as it gives us an opportunity to focus on the issue of our time zone arrangements. As can be seen from the Bill and the contributions made today, there are many different aspects to this to be considered. Deputy Broughan's Bill has two general focal points: the preparation and publication of a report on the costs and benefits of advancing clocks by one hour, and the conducting of a three year trial during which clocks would be advanced by one hour.

The Bill is interesting not least because of its specific requirement that in preparing the report, the interests of the people of Northern Ireland must be considered, an issue raised by some speakers. I will return to this specific aspect of the Bill at a later stage.

Currently, Irish clocks are aligned not only with those in the United Kingdom but, interestingly, Portugal. This means that our winter time begins at 1 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on the last Sunday in October every year when clocks are put back one hour. Whoever happens to be the Minister for Justice and Equality, tends to issue a statement 24 hours beforehand to remind people of this. Winter time ends at 1 a.m. GMT on the last Sunday in March of the following year when clocks are put forward one hour, signalling the start of summer time. My statement this year seemed to generate interest and excitement. I thank the media for the extent to which they covered it. None of them, other than RTE news in the context of "It Says In The Papers", seemed to notice that the general excitement, including that of Deputy Finian McGrath, calling on me to resign, occurred on 1 April. Perhaps next year they will be a little more cautious before they jump into the mode of condemning people-----

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