Majority of Irish people favour year-round summer time as EU to vote on clock change
The European Union has taken another step towards abolishing the twice-yearly clock change which has been a rite of spring and autumn for decades.
Irish people have taken part in a European public consultation that voted overwhelmingly to stop the clock changes.
The European Parliament and member states now have to choose to stay on winter time or summer time.
'Spring forward and fall back' could soon be a thing of the past because the European Parliament is considering scrapping the process of clocks changing twice a year.
It is after a consultation of four million people throughout Europe, including Ireland.
Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly says the majority of Irish people want the clocks to remain the same all year: "Over 88% of Irish people that responded said they wanted to get rid of it, they were sick of it.
80% of those who wanted to end clock change wanted summer time all year round.
One of the reasons daylight savings was introduced was so that farmers would have more light in the morning to milk the cows.
But IFA President Joe Healy says farmers would actually prefer longer evenings.
"It really cuts the day short and from my conversations with farmers all over the country, they would like to see summer time continue all year round."
The proposal now goes to the full parliament and the member states.
If it gets the go-ahead the clocks could go forward in March 2021 and never go back again.
