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A STATUS YELLOW warm weather warning is in place for parts of the west and south of Ireland as temperatures reached 28 degrees in parts of the country.
The warning covers Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick for Thursday. It began at 1pm and will remain in place until 7pm this evening.
A high of 28 degrees was recorded in Shannon this afternoon as temperatures soared across the country.
Met Éireann has warned that the solar UV index is very high and asked people to “take care in the sunshine”.
While temperatures were highest in the south and west of the country, many places enjoyed plenty of sunshine with the average temperature between 20 and 25 degrees.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht issued a warning today of the increased risk of forest fires during hot weather.
In a statement, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan called on people to “act responsibly”.
Members of the public, she said, should be “mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, to be mindful of the need to protect property, both publicly owned and privately owned and to appreciate the value of our natural heritage”.
“Fires do not just happen in Ireland; they are caused deliberatly or inadvertently go out of control. This is a particular risk during hot and dry periods of weather like we are currently experiencing,” Barry O’Donoghue of the National Parks and Wildlife Service warned.
“Uncontrolled fires can have devastating impacts on habitats and species and ecosystems that may have taken decades or centuries to establish, but can be lost in minutes in a fire,” he added.
Clare County Fire and Rescue Service issued a wildfire warning in light of the warm weather earlier today.
It asked landowners and the general public to refrain from any outdoor burning during the ongoing spell of hot weather.
The fire service warned that any outside burning can spread to private and state-owned forestry plantations and jeopardise the safety of dwellings and families living in rural areas.
“We would like to remind landowners that it is an offence under the Wildlife Act to burn growing vegetation between 1 March and 31 August in any year, on any land not then cultivated,” Clare County Council fire officer Adrian Kelly said.
“The sad fact is that if this simple rule was adhered to, many costly and dangerous wildfires that occur across Clare each year would be avoided.”
The council issued the following advice to the general public and forest owners:
Speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, a Met Éireann forecaster explained why the weather is going to be so warm: ”We do have these easterly flows that are bringing continental air over us, we’re having these hot temperatures across the continent – that airflow is coming over to us.”
Forecast
Looking at the forecast for the next few days, tonight is expected to be mostly dry again, with a risk of an isolated shower in the southwest.
It will, however, be mild and humid with lowest temperatures between 13 to 17 degrees.
Tomorrow will continue to be very warm with good sunny spells. It will be mostly dry in the east, but there will be some showers in the west early on and Met Éireann is warning showers could turn heavy and possibly thundery later in the day.
The good weather looks like it will be short lived as it will turn unsettled over the weekend.
“[The warm weather] will last until tomorrow anyway, it will be between 22-27 tomorrow, so there will be spots that will experience 27 degrees but it won’t go much over that,” the Met Éireann forecaster told Morning Ireland.
Tomorrow night is expected to be mild and humid again with lowest temperatures around 12 to 17 degrees.
There will be outbreaks of showery rain at first with the risk of some heavy or possibly thundery bursts later.
Saturday is due to be warmer with temperatures of between 20 to 25 degrees. Met Éireann has forecast scattered showers with some sunny spells. However, showers are likely to be heavy or thundery, especially over the eastern half of the country.
- with reporting from Dominic McGrath
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Not shocking anymore. Kind of half expect this sort of stuff now.
What is it with this man and “conflicts of interests” ?
Nothing to see here move along now !!
Ah lads , cronyism in ireland ? NEVER !!
Of course he denies a conflict of interest. When did you ever read, “Minister admits conflict of interest.”
O’Reilly would deny today is Friday. He cant even lay in bed straight at this stage.
From a guy who pushed two primary care sites in his own constituency up the list of potential sites…still waiting on the criteria you used Stroker!
Then what exactly is it then? Walks like a duck…etc
Welcome to Ireland,probably the most corrupt country in Europe
Hands up who is shocked or surprised by this. …….
Richie rodgers
We’ll get there stroke by stroke.
Reilly involved again no surprise there to be honest.
Shattergate mark2 ….Reilly on the inside track…….FG/Lab even more corrupt than FF, there is a scary reality…..Resign James you have your money made…..
How come the 20,000 commission was so low? The going rate for a report like this was 125,000 in 2011 and the Health Partnership is not a charity!
Women of Ireland, come together and let us al put a stop to this madness, I’d like to c a man in the full throws of labour, having to face a 2 hr car journey. On lovely pot-holed roads!!!
If he appointed someone from outside the area, the complaint would be that they didn’t understand the area.
If he appointed someone without the medical knowledge, the complaint would be that someone who didn’t understand medical provision was making the decisions
If he appoints someone from inside the area with the right medical background, the complaint is that there’s a conflict of interest.
I wish people would state who they think should be appointed, because almost every decision can have some line of attack.
Kinda sums up JR. Anyway after the reshuffle it will be someone else’s problem.
How many absolute effin’ outrages are we, as a nation, prepared to put up with? This Minister and his shady pals should be run out of the country, let alone sacked.
And deny being in denial
How come this commission was 6 times less than the going rate for the job? A bargain at 20,000! Such reports cost 125,000 in 2011.
The Journal got it wrong! The Health Partnership predates 2008! in March 2005 the company wrote to the Dept of Finance highlighting their role in private health care ventures in Ireland, UK, Portugal and Germany and suggesting tax incentives for private sector players in e.g. direct service provision, the supply of high tech equipment, patient and staff accommodation, primary care provision, nursing home care, etc. Even hospital traffic management got a look in. Hard to believe no one in the West/North-West hospital group knew of Mr Daly’s involvement with this high profile healthcare company.
Why would anyone be surprised with this ruling class carryon, and they wonder why people voted for the left
The main conflict of interest here is the fact tgat Noel Daly wrote to revenue in 2005 with what could be described as a bluepriting which would see private interests profiting from tge removal of public services. In that letter it mentions how the private sector could provide accomodation for people who due to clousure of public services would have to travek greater distances.
Over 6 years later tgis man is appointed chair of a hospital group. In the space of little over a year his company is given the task of reviewing maternitu in the same region. This report is said to recommend many clousures.
Given all this histiry I cannot see how this review can hold any authority. Or indeed how anyone in this countru could trust its recommendations.
In fact this review ihas been damaged beyond repair. Hiwever it should be made available to the public.
Luje Ming Flaagan spoje about concerns that gospital staff had about how tgis revuew was completed. Perhaps he should come back to this important debate in Irish healthcare before he leaves fir Europe.
Reilly people dont believe a word from your lying mouth!
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