August 2007

Malin Head sunniest place in Ireland

Cathy O'Donnell, the chairperson of Malin Head Community Association, said the group were delighted with the glorious sunshine. It has been a scorcher of a summer for people in Malin Head with daily sunshine levels reaching record levels, although it appears the level of rainfall was above average in the area. Cathy said, "Well the weather was pretty good at Malin Head, it was pretty good for the whole of Inishowen. We have had a few days with showers but it hasn't seemed to have affected tourism. In fact when people come up here they are quite surprised that we have such good weather."

Cathy added: "There was a great atmosphere during the Malin Head festival, and that was definitely down to the good weather. The tourism always improves here with the better weather because it encourages a lot more day trippers into the area."

A spokesperson from the Met Eireann said, "There was 59 per cent more sunshine in Malin Head than normal levels in July. The expected amount of rainfall was 71.8mm on average, but in July there was 98.3mm of rain, and on July 15th there was a record amount of daily sunshine, in a total there was 15.3 hours. It has emerged there was a whopping 212 hours of sunshine in total last month - which was the highest number of hours of sunshine recorded at the top of the country since 1955.

It appears Ireland's most northerly point was one of the very few pockets of land to enjoy the good weather, with Met Eireann's report claiming the summer was a complete washout for the rest of the country.

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