Ireland should remain on daylight saving time to help deal with this year’s winter energy crisis, a senator has claimed.
At present, Ireland is operating on summertime and the time will go back by one hour on October 30.
But Cork Senator Tim Lombard said the tradition should be abandoned to help take the pressure off the energy grid between the peak hours of 5pm and 7pm.
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The move would see darker mornings but an extra hour of daylight during the evening.
The Fine Gael politician said: “We are literally in an energy crisis. We need to start thinking outside of the box.
“I think there would be a huge impact if we were to do it … if we were to forego that according to research at Queen’s University that would have a huge impact on energy consumption.
“I think it’s a practical solution to a serious problem.”
In an interview with C103’s Cork Today Show, Senator Lombard explained: “Peak time is between 5pm and 7pm. That peak time is very important.
“Because it’s quite possible on that peak time between 5pm and 7pm that there’s going to be an extra surcharge put on all usage of power.
“Anything from five per cent for residential to 12 per cent for commercial people … that’s the peak time that the grid will be under exceptional pressure.”
He called on the Irish government to have negotiations with the UK to scrap the practice - meaning everybody within the British Isles would operate on the same timezone and there wouldn’t be two timezones on the island of Ireland.
Senator Lombard also said the practice which was introduced during the first World War was outdated and wasn’t logical anymore.
In 2019, Members of the European Parliament voted to scrap the practice of moving clocks forward by an hour in spring and then back again.
The initial plan was to scrap the time changes after spring 2021 but this was halted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bonkers.ie’s Daragh Cassidy said he would personally support the move but doesn’t think it’ll actually happen.
He told The Irish Mirror: “I don’t think it’s going to be a runner … but it could potentially save people a little bit of money.
“I think everything should be on the table but unfortunately I just don’t see anything changing this winter at least.
“I think the biggest issue this winter is going to be around price. I think if there were going to be blackouts it would happen in December between 5pm and 7pm.”
It comes as a senior research officer at the ESRI said last week power blackouts could not be ruled out and said if there were it would most likely be at peak times.
Dr Muireann Lynch told RTE’s Morning Ireland said: “What we do know is that supply on the system is the tightest it's been for a good while and while the expectation is always that there will be no blackouts, historically we have operated the system far more reliably than targets suggest.
“What I would say is a lot of it comes down to the wind and a lot of it comes down to whether or not customers can shift their demand from the peak times. If there are interruptions, they'll almost certainly occur at peak times.”
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