Met Eireann have issued four Status Yellow warnings for eight counties as gusts of 110km/h are expected to hit.
The national forecaster yesterday issued an alert for counties Donegal, Galway and Mayo with three more warnings added subsequently.
They cautioned: "South to Southeast winds veering Westerly on Thursday afternoon 50 to 65 km/hr gusts 90 to 110 km/hr, strongest on coasts and hills."
The warning for the western and northwestern counties came into effect at 3am this morning and will remain in place until 8pm.
Meanwhile, the southwest is also bracing itself for high winds and there is also a risk of coastal flooding in this area around high tide.
A 12-hour alert is in place for Wexford, Cork and Waterford. It began at 2am on Thursday morning and expires at 2pm on this afternoon.
Meanwhile, a Status Yellow wind warning for Kerry came into effect just after midnight and will expire at 12pm this afternoon.
The final county affected by the warnings is Wicklow which has been under alert since 6am until 4pm.
Met Eireann said: "Today will be a windy day with outbreaks of rain this morning, heavy at times. A clearance to bright spells and scattered showers will follow from the southwest in the afternoon.
"Top temperatures of 8C to 11C in strong and gusty south to southeast winds with gales along coasts. Winds will veer southwest to west as the rain clears and moderate somewhat."
Showers will spread from the west early tonight, but later it will become mainly dry again with clear spells.
Temperatures will drop to lows of -1C to 4C degrees with frost away from the west coast. Southwest winds will ease further and become mostly moderate.
