Few in favour of extra hour in bed

A survey has shown that 65% of Irish people are not in favour of turning the clocks back — a practice first introduced by William Lillet, great-great-grandfather of Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

The ‘daylight saving move’, which sees the clocks go back at 2am tomorrow, was very controversial when Lillet introduced it in 1907 to make the most of the amount of daylight in winter.

And apparently it’s just as controversial today.

According to the survey, carried out by lighting firm Solus, 65% of people would rather if the clocks did not change.

The survey shows that on previous occasions, 54% spent the extra hour in bed, 14% got out and embraced the day, and 4% were blissfully unaware of the move.

The vast majority believe the reason the clocks go back is for some form of daylight saving, although some think it’s because de Valera wanted people to be able to dance at the crossroads.

When asked why clocks go back, 82% of respondents cited daylight saving to benefit school children, farmers, and community.

Another 2% believe it is just tradition, 4% believe it is to save energy, 7% said it signals the end of summer, and 4% believe it’s because the practice is adopted by most of Europe. 1% blamed de Valera.

There are currently about 70 countries that participate in Daylight Saving Time, though not necessarily on the same schedule as Ireland. Ireland is located in the Greenwich Mean Time zone, sharing the same time as Great Britain, Iceland, Portugal, and some countries in northwest Africa.