FORMER MET ÉIREANN forecaster Joanna Donnelly says she intends to devote more time to writing, after she quit her role at the weather service in dramatic fashion by announcing her departure live on TV back in April. 

The meteorologist broke her silence on the reasons for her decision yesterday, writing a column for the Sunday Independent in which she detailed her disputes with Met Éireann management, including a row about rosters and a disagreement over outside engagements. 

Donnelly was one of the highest-profile forecasters during her time at RTÉ, presenting regular TV bulletins and penning several books about the weather, including a bestselling reference book for children. 

At the start if the year she joined the line-up of RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars, becoming the third celebrity to be eliminated in a February episode of the show. 

Speaking to The Journal today Donnelly said she was weighing up a number of options for the future and confirmed she’s writing two more books – one of which will be of a more personal nature. 

As of yet, there are no plans for a publication date. 

“When there’s a book in there, it needs to come out,” Donnelly said.

“So writing is, is in itself, a worthy thing to do, whether it becomes a published book or not, that’s that’s a different thing.”

Donnelly detailed in her column yesterday how she had received her first warning from management in 2023 over a social media post about a second-hand hairdryer that she loved.  

Speaking today she said she was “absolutely heartbroken” to be disciplined over something “so silly”.

This was during a time of heightened focus on social media posts by staff and anyone associated with RTÉ, coming in the wake of the Ryan Tubridy controversy and revelations about the broadcaster’s barter account.

Other on-air hosts also found themselves in hot water with management around that time – notably Doireann Garrihy, who had posted a sponsored ad with Flahavan’s porridge, taken in an RTÉ studio, on her Instagram in 2022. Separately, Lottie Ryan was ordered to remove a social media ad for a car company, that was filmed on RTÉ’s campus without permission.

“It was around the time RTÉ were dealing with the Ryan Tubridy fallout and there was a close inspection of all our social media … it went through my social media historic posts,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly says was asked to delete anything that might be construed as a sponsorship, which she says she did. When she made the later post about the hairdryer she said she didn’t think anything of it as she had brought it secondhand – but she said the issue led to her receiving a warning. 

Even now, without the restrictions of RTÉ and Met Éireann, Donnelly says she has no plans to become an influencer. 

She said she was primarily focused on looking after herself and her family, and focusing on her writing. 

RTÉ declined to comment on Donnelly’s departure. The national broadcaster uses a tender process to choose its forecaster. Met Éireann, having won the tender, provides the service, but RTÉ has no involvement in the forecaster’s operations.

Met Éireann has not yet responded to queries from The Journal but in a statement to the Independent the forecaster said:

“Met ­Éireann, the Irish National ­Meteorological ­Service, is a line division of the ­Department of Housing, Local ­Government and Heritage.

“As an employer, the ­department has a duty to its employees not to ­disclose any information of a ­personal nature and accordingly, the ­department does not comment on any ­matters related to individual members of staff.

“As a Division of a Civil Service ­Department, all employees of Met Éireann are civil servants.

“Civil servants are obliged to work within certain standards, including under the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour. The department, and Met Éireann also have a policy on media and social media.

“Civil servants have recourse to the Civil Service Grievance Procedure for complaints such as those mentioned.”