Members of the Dáil are to consider the benefits of moving Ireland to another time zone.

Labour's Tommy Broughan wants the Department of Justice to commission a report on the issue.

The Brighter Evenings Bill would make evenings longer by moving the clocks forward an hour, as part of a 3-year experiment that would bring us in line with Central European Time.

Under the proposal, Ireland would move its clocks forward next March - as usual - but wouldn't move backwards in October, leaving us in the same time zone as most European countries.

The Bill calls on the Minister for Justice to commission a report on the benefits of changing the time zone.

The legislation isn't likely to pass: EU law says every member state has to move the clocks forward and backwards at exactly the same time.

Therefore Ireland would need to get the approval of every other EU country if we wanted to step out of line.

The government is also reluctant to move to a different time zone than the UK.

If it was passed, stepping over the border to Northern Ireland would literally mean going back in time.