Longer-term flood forecast system would cost €2.5m

It remains unclear what additional resources Met Éireann will get to improve flood forecasting after the Government agreed in principle to establish a new weather forecasting system at a cost of €2.5 million.

The proposal, brought by Minister of State at the Office of Public Works Simon Harris, will introduce a longer-term flood forecasting and warning system within Met Éireann.

It will require the recruitment of 15 staff and would cost €2.5 million to implement.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said on Wednesday the department could not discuss the matter, as the funding had yet to be approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Met Éireann could also not discuss the investment and its implications for staffing or technology until the investment was approved, the spokesman said.

The national forecasting service does not have a dedicated hydrology service at present, whereas some other countries do.

Flood risks

Such advanced systems allow forecasters to monitor and predict river conditions and flood risks.

Five people are required to monitor each of the 25 weather observation stations around the country on a 24-hour, seven-day basis.

Met Éireann’s staff of experts has fallen from about 380 in the early 1980s to about 170 today, mostly due to advances in technology and the fact that data and charts used to be prepared manually.

The first “real time” weather observation was transmitted from Valentia Island in Kerry on October 8th, 1860.

Valentia Observatory was one of a network of weather stations established around the Irish and British coastlines by the naval authorities in London to provide storm warnings for ships.

Weather issues were handled by the British Meteorological Office until the 1930s. The need for accurate weather information for transatlantic aviation led to the establishment of an Irish Meteorological Service in 1936.

Many of the manned, so-called “synoptic” weather stations around the country were automated in the early 2000s with the development of Met Éireann’s in-house Tucson system.