Taoiseach Micheal Martin has told people to stay at home and only travel if necessary as Ireland prepares for a “difficult” day of Storm Barra.
Violent weather is set to hammer the country over the next couple of days with a status red marine warning issued for Ireland's west coast.
Met Eireann are asking the country to brace themselves for horror conditions with Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Galway pinpointed as the areas set for the worst of it.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr Martin said: “In terms of Storm Barra, we are very, very concerned about it.
“I think it’s very important that we get the message out there to the public at large that we are dealing with a very, very serious storm in storm Barra tomorrow and right into Wednesday.
“All of the reports I’ve received so far are such that we’re looking at a very strong orange [alert] in some counties and red [alert] in others.
“Tomorrow will be a very, very difficult day from a storm perspective.
“It’s very, very serious and we encourage people to stay at home unless it’s necessary for travel particularly in the counties now concerned.”
The Fianna Fail leader urged people to “watch out” for weather alerts in their areas and said people should stay away from coastlines.
He added: “We have been issuing warnings to people particularly near coastlines.
“People must avoid the coast at all costs.
“Watch out for your weather alert.
“There will be localised flooding.
“And in those counties with storm orange and red alerts, travel should be kept to a minimum and the usual precautions of fallen trees.
“There is a very, very severe storm.”
