DIG OUT YOUR sunglasses and slap on the sunscreen: the warm weather is set to last all week.

Parts of the country have seen temperatures hit between 15 and 19 degrees today and Met Eireann says the unexpected early summer is set to continue for several more days.

Dublin and Galway are both currently 17 degrees while Cork is a slightly less balmy 13 degrees.

Met Eireann says that Monday is set to be similarly warm with temperatures staying in the high teens.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are also set to be dry and sunny with temperatures in the mid to high teens. Enjoy it while it lasts though – Met Eireann says that Friday looks like bringing a return to cooler weather.

The warm weather comes two days after the World Meterological Organisation announced that 2011 was the eleventh warmest year since records began in 1850.

Globally-averaged temperatures in 2011 were estimated to be just over 14 degrees Celsius.

(This is what we like to see. Image via Met Eireann)

While it may not exactly be warm enough to go to the beach just yet, it's been even hotter in Britain this weekend as these photographs of Brighton beach show. We're ever so slightly jealous...