Met Éireann force change to clichéd Irish storm names

Met Éireann forced a change in the names of several storms because suggestions from British forecasters were too Irish, not Irish enough, and, in one case, too similar to a country and western star.

Emails between the national forecasting service and the Met Office, its equivalent in the UK, reveal differences over how the yearly list of serious weather events is decided.

The correspondence, released under Freedom of Information, shows Irish meteorologists took issue with a British suggestion that a storm be called Patrick.