Traditionally the bulwark counties which break up the rain clouds moving in from the Atlantic before they spill over the rest of the country, Donegal and Sligo have this year been experiencing a bit of a role reversal. Instead, the 'sunny south-east' has experienced the worst of the interminable rain which has soaked most of the country in the first half of 'summer'.

"Not every part of the country has experienced record rainfalls and the north west area has done particularly well this time. A lot of it is just down to the luck of the draw, " said David Rogers of Met Eireann.

The bad luck seems set to continue, he said, with no sign of a sustained break in the bad weather.

"There is no sign of high pressures approaching Ireland. The weather will remain unsettled at least until the middle of next week, which is as far as the Met Office can accurately predict, " he said.

Further belts of heavy rain are expected over the next few days with widespread and heavy rain forecast along the east coast in particular tomorrow.

Though June went down as the wettest on record, Rogers said that temperatures so far this year are actually above average. He pointed out that the figures had been skewed by the unseasonably high temperatures in April and May and that temperatures have been below average for June and the first half of July.

Despite the heavy and persistent rainfall over the last week and the likelihood of rain every day for most of this week, Rogers said there were no reports of flooding.

"There is the obvious risk of localised flooding if a small area experiences heavy and prolonged rainfall but there is no immediate threat of widespread flooding, " he said.