One of Donegal's best-known businessmen has said he is considering suing Met Éireann over last week's forecast for bad weather.
He claims the forecast put people off visiting the northwest even though the bad weather did not materialise.
However, Met Éireann has defended its weather forecasts last week, saying it had issued warnings out of concern for public safety.
Seán McEniff, chairman of North West Tourism, claimed yesterday that adverse forecasts led to the cancellation of conferences and room bookings in a number of hotels in Donegal, including in his son's hotel in Letterkenny, despite fine weather.
He and his son are considering suing Met Éireann in a private capacity.
Met Éireann said it had no choice but to issue a severe weather warning in the interests of public safety.
Last Wednesday the forecasting division issued a 36-hour warning for the northwest up to midnight on Friday. People were advised to travel with caution. The country did experience some snow and high winds and there were some road closures, but Donegal was not badly affected.
Michael Walsh, head of Met Éireann's general forecasting division, said the wind alone was a matter for concern.
"We issued a warning for very strong winds and snow showers, and there were strong winds on the north coast and there were snow showers. We issue severe weather warnings in the interests of public safety. That is our first concern."
He said they were satisfied with last week's forecast, explaining that it was not possible to give the kind of precision and detail that people perceive as being possible.
"Even the US had problems with forecasting hurricanes and they have some of the most sophisticated equipment in the world."
However, Mr McEniff claimed that Met Éireann's forecasts showed it had no respect for the northwest.
"This carry-on is not on," he said. "We fight hard to get a conference, and then you lose it because of wrong information. This is not acceptable in the present day. It's very, very unfair to Co Donegal."
Mr McEniff, who is also a member of Donegal County Council, said the issue of legal action for business lost by the county as a result of the "inaccurate" forecasts would be down for debate at the next council meeting on December 7th.