Met Éireann's five-day forecast predicts temps of up to 24C for Bank Holiday Weekend

Wednesday: Warm, dry and sunny. Highest temperatures of 18 to 24 degrees. Mostly moderate northeasterly breezes will keep things slightly cooler in the east with highs there of 15 to 17 degrees.

Wednesday night: Dry and mainly clear with lowest temperatures of 8 to 12 degrees in mostly light northeast breezes.

Thursday: Warm, dry and sunny once again with highest temperatures of 18 to 24 degrees. Once again though light to moderate easterly breeze will keep things temperatures slightly cooler on the east coast.

Thursday night: Dry and clear with lowest temperatures of 9 to 13 degrees in mostly light easterly breezes.

Friday: Dry and warm in many parts, although there will be a little more passing cloud over the northern half of the country. Highest temperatures over the western half of the country will range from 21 to 24 degrees, while moderate easterly winds will keep highs over the eastern half of the country lower, ranging from 14 on the east coast up to 19 in the midlands.

Current indications suggest that high pressure will continue to stick around over the Bank Holiday Weekend, remaining generally dry and sunny with temperatures reaching the high teens or low twenties away from the east coast and possibly reaching the mid-twenties in some western parts.

Forecaster Alan O'Reilly said: "That high pressure is stubborn and doesn’t want to move too far!

"In other words staying dry and settled for next 7-10 days with bank holiday looking good at present.

"If you are heading away from Ireland over the next 10 days many parts of Southern Europe will continue to thunderstorms and heavy showers, especially North Spain and Southern France."