As sailors felt the brunt of the weather this morning with the cancellation of Autumn leagues in Howth and Cork. Met Éireann issued a weather alert countrywide for this evening and Monday. It will be extremely windy - especially on Monday morning with southeasterly gales and gusts of 80km-110km an hour in exposed areas. Whether your boat is in or out of the water it's probably worth checking on it to avoid some of the most common winterising mistakes but be careful in strong winds on exposed quays or near the waters edge. Theres a gale warning in place and high winds are expected on Irish coastal waters from Fair Head to Carlingford Lough to Mizen Head and on the Irish Sea. Met Eireann says it expects showers to develop in all areas this evening with up to 70mm of rain expected to fall between now and Tuesday morning. Coastal counties of Munster and Leinster are most at risk for the highest rainfall and flooding is probable in some areas

 

Fishermen and farmers make up more than half of all work-related fatalities in Ireland, according to the Minister for the Marine.

As The Irish Times reports, Simon Coveney TD decried it as an "absolute tragedy" in the Dáil. 

He noted the progress being made in encouraging people to wear safety gear when on the water, but said there was "little or no progress in getting fishermen to wear lifejackets”.

"For some reason fishermen seem to think they will never fall in the water," the minister commented.

Cork South West TD Noel Harrington also raised the point of the Department of the Marine's refusal to use personal beacons that directly signal emergency services, rather than emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRB).

He referred to the capsizing of the Rambler 100 yacht in the Fastnet Race in August, saying that the latter did not go off to alert the coastguard as the boat had not sunk.