It was one of the worst storms to hit Ireland in recent history, but some members of the public still found time to complain to Met Éireann about the service’s Storm Éowyn forecasts.
One person said the meteorology service had forced every business in the country to close, while another said it was like Covid ‘lockdown’ all over again during the January storm.
One complaint said: “You are completely out of touch with what is going on weather wise, there was absolutely no need for a red warning. There was small gusts of wind and rain last night here in Waterford and as of this morning there is blue skies, and no sign of any storm let alone a red warning. The scaremongering is getting ridiculous.”
The person said they understood that conditions were worse in other parts of the country but asked why more localised warnings could not be put in place.
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Her ‘no’ was clear. She did not want to go home with him. Still he went on. And on
Another said the frequent use of red warnings was leading to cancelled work and people being ‘hunkered down’ unnecessarily.
A message said: “Older neighbours particularly isolated themselves for days. it was like ‘lockdown’ all over again.”
Overall the number of complaints received was low, records released under Freedom of Information show.
Another member of the public said they found the warning system confusing because it revolved around set specific times. “So in Clare red warning ends at twelve noon – no other warning in place, can’t quite believe the wind just stops immediately at twelve. Am I wrong?”
Another complaint said updated forecasts were not being provided quickly enough and were about as useful as “t*ts on a bull”.
They wrote: “The updates should be every 15 minutes, and we should be easily able to track the storm with help from the American weather plane sent over.”
