Weather affects electricity supplies in Galway

At least 2,500 ESB customers in Connemara, Co Galway are without electricity since 10am this morning after a lightening strike cut power supplies.

Elsewhere, up to one thousand eircom customers have been left without phone lines after heavy winds and rain caused damage to the network in Counties Mayo and Cork.

Flooding has caused damage to phone cables in Douglas in Cork, leaving up to 800 customers without services.

An eircom spokesperson says it could be late this evening before repairs are complete.

In Glenamoy, Co Mayo, up to 200 customers are experiencing an outage, and services have now been restored to 300 homes in Roscommon that were affected earlier.

The bad weather has forced Irish Ferries and Stena Line to cancel a number of their crossings this afternoon - and in Dublin City Centre a number of roads have been blocked due to fallen trees.

The AA has issued a warning to motorists to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary, and if you do take to the roads the message is to watch out for debris, slow down and take extreme care.