Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Since 2001, summer time arrangements in the EU have been governed by EU Directive 2000/84/EC which sets out the obligation on all Member States to switch to summer time on the last Sunday of March and to switch back to their standard time (winter time) on the last Sunday of October.

Following a resolution of the European Parliament in 2018, the European Commission proposed a change to this arrangement, under which:

• The last mandatory change to summer time would take place on 28 March 2021, after which
• Member States who wish to remain on winter time would make one last seasonal clock change on 31 October 2021. This decision was to be notified to the Commission by 1 April 2020.
• Members States would remain free to choose their standard time, on the condition that they give 18 months’ notice to the Commission.

Ireland’s consistent position at the EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy (TTE) Council has been that it will not support the proposal. A major consideration is the possibility that the proposal could lead to the imposition of two time zones on the island. More generally, in the context of the EU proposal, Ireland’s position, along with a number of other Member States, has reflected concern that the proposal could reduce synchronicity and result in a ‘patchwork’ of time zones across the EU, thereby causing unnecessary confusion in the Single Market. Ireland has supported the carrying out of a full impact assessment of this proposal prior to any final decisions being taken at EU level.

Discussions with Members States on the proposal are on-going via the TTE Council.