The arrival of two storms in quick succession in Dylan and Eleanor, and the flooding experienced in Galway and other coastal areas, has led to increased concerns locally.
An estimated 150,000 homes, farms and businesses were without power this week in the immediate aftermath of Storm Eleanor, which brought winds of up to 155km/h.
Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran has moved to assure the local public that he and his partners are closely monitoring the situation.
"It would be wrong to say that there is not some local concern, a lot of people have been ringing me in the last week regarding flooding," he commented earlier this week. "Between now (Tuesday ) and Friday we are promised 22mm of rain, and we can handle that in terms of the pressure points that people are concerned about. It is what comes after that is the concern, but what we are told by the people watching this is that it is to get colder and drier after the weekend, which would certainly help us."
Minister Moran said there is always real concern when water levels are on the rise.
"Right now we are at the same levels we were last year," he continued. "Out of 14 days over the Christmas we only had one dry day, we had an increase of 70mm of rain. In comparison to last year, that is 10 per cent higher, but it is nowhere near where it was in 2015/2016."
The National Emergency Coordination Group met on Wednesday morning to discuss the impact of the storm.
Minister Moran, who wants to spend €1bn on flood defences, says flood maps will be published at the end of January, with a total of 47 schemes prioritised.
