, (Limerick East): I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order:—
Winter Time Order, 1982.
The Order complies with an EEC Second Council Directive on summer time arrangements concerning the harmonisation of the summer time period throughout EEC member states. This Order is a follow up to the Winter Time Order, 1981 (No. 67 of 1981) which the House approved on 10 March 1981. The principal effect of the Order is that summer time will begin one week later than prescribed under our primary legislation in this area, the Standard Time (Amendment) Act, 1971 (No. 17 of 1971), and if approved means that we will have the same period of summer time in 1983, 1984 and 1985 as we have had for the past two years, from the last Sunday in March to the fourth Sunday in October, from 27 March 1983 to 23 October 1983; 25 March 1984 to 28 October 1984; 31 March 1985 to 27 October 1985.
The Commission considers that the harmonisation of the summer time period would help the efficiency of transport, communications, commerce and contacts generally between member states.
Discussions with a view to standardising the summer time provisions in EEC member states have been in train for several years. There are various problems of course, including the fact that natural time in this country and in the United Kingdom is substantially different from that of the continental member states. This fact has been accepted in the Second Council Directive which has prescribed that the summer time period in the continental member states should end one month earlier than in Ireland and the United Kingdom, 25 September 1983; 30 September 1984; 29 September 1985. This is a most favourable arrangement from this country's point of view as we have always favoured as long a summer time period as possible and the public, when consulted about the provisions of the Standard Time (Amendment) Act, 1971, were in favour of having our summer time period synchronised with that of the United Kingdom. The arrangement also suits the continental member states who have always favoured a shorter summer time period.
A minor consequence of the order will be that the time of change from winter time to summer time and vice versa will be 1 a.m. in the morning Greenwich Mean Time rather than 2 a.m.
I now call on the House to approve the Order.
