It has been the wettest and dullest June for years, Met Eireann has confirmed. The midlands has had it the worst, with its wettest June on record, double the normal amount of rain and less sunshine than normal.
All weather stations recorded rainfall amounts higher than normal for the month, with some areas having triple their usual levels. Birr and Mullingar had their wettest June, while Clones had its wettest in 40 years. Temperature in the midlands, however, has not changed much.
Kilkenny, Mullingar and Valentia had their wettest June on record, with Cork, Shannon and Rosslare recording twice the normal amount of rainfall.
The tourist industry has generally had a slight fall in business for the month, not so much with foreign visitors, who are pre-booked, but with domestic holidaymakers. It has been the wettest Dublin for five years, with sunshine four-fifths of normal.
However, the Dublin tourist industry has not had a huge drop in numbers, said Ms Ciara Sugrue, marketing manager for Dublin Tourism.
"In terms of overseas numbers of tourists," she said, "we haven't had a decrease due to the weather, but visitor attractions have reported that when the weather was bad in June the numbers fell. When the weather was very good, the numbers rose."
On the south-west coast it was not much better. There was 80 per cent of normal sunshine in Valentia, which had its wettest June on record, while Shannon had 90 per cent of usual sunshine and its wettest June in 16 years.
Mr Con O Conaill, regional tourism manager for Cork-Kerry Tourism, said that "the feedback we're getting from the industry is that June wasn't very good", citing the weather as one factor and the World Cup as another. However, the June weekend was good for business.
In the west, however, sunshine maintained usual levels, with Belmullet recording an almost average amount of sunshine for June but a slightly higher amount of rainfall.
The weather has led to an increased demand for foreign holidays. Mr Jim Vaughan, managing director of Abbey Travel, said: "The inquiry level has been very high."
In the North, where sunshine and rainfall have been slightly higher than normal, the numbers of foreign tourists arriving has not fallen off, but the number of domestic tourists going to caravan parks, for example, has dipped slightly, said Ms Fiona Campbell, supervisor at the Ballycastle Tourism Information Centre, whose area includes the Giant's Causeway.