diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 9354ca8..e61ee70 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ gtk_layer_shell = dependency('gtk-layer-shell-0',
         fallback : ['gtk-layer-shell', 'gtk_layer_shell_dep'])
 systemd = dependency('systemd', required: get_option('systemd'))
 tz_dep = dependency('date',
-    required: false,
     default_options : [ 'use_system_tzdb=true' ],
     modules : [ 'date::date', 'date::date-tz' ],
     fallback: [ 'date', 'tz_dep' ])