A TOTAL OF 67% of people think Ireland should stop turning back the clocks twice a year and keep the same timezone all year round.

Since 2001, Ireland has set its clocks forward on the last Sunday of March each year – and turned them back on the last Sunday of October. 

In September, the EU Commission recommended that daylight savings be abolished.  When clocks move forward on the last Sunday in March 2021 it would be the last time. 

Last Monday, 1,000 people were asked on behalf of TheJournal.ie and Claire Byrne Live/Amárach Research: Should Ireland stop the ritual of changing clocks twice a year, and observe the same timezone all year round?

Here are the results:

• Yes: 67%
• No: 21%
• Don’t know: 12%

People over the age of 55 were the most keen to scrap daylight savings with 77% of people in that category saying that they want to end the bi-annual practice. Just 14% of people in that category want the practice retained with 9% saying they didn’t know. 

In the poll, 71% of men voted ‘Yes’ while 63% of women voted ‘Yes’. 

People aged between 18 and 24 were most keen to retain daylight savings with 46% of people in that category saying they want to keep changing the clocks and 31% saying they wanted to do away with daylight savings. 

Following the EU Commission’s recommendation in September to abolish daylight savings, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan announced earlier this month that there will be public consultation on whether Ireland should scrap the practice. 

A member state must notify the EU Commission of its decision to retain or scrap daylight savings by April 2019, following the last mandatory clock change in March 2019. 

Clocks go back this year at 2am on Sunday 28 October.