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LAST UPDATE | 18 Jan
MET ÉIREANN HAS been granted permission for two new rainfall radars in Co Kilkenny and Co Donegal by the respective county councils.
According to planning documents, the Co Kilkenny development at Brown Mountain will consist of the construction of a galvanised steel truss weather radar tower, with a technical equipment room and a radome located at the top of the structure, and an equipment room located at the base.
A radome, or radar dome, is a weatherproof, structural enclosure protecting antennas, radars, and communication systems from environmental elements like rain and wind, while being transparent to radio waves.
The structure will be 45m tall and 8m in diameter.
The planning application states that the structure will be accessed via a new access road off the existing forest haul road.
There will be 24 solar panels installed on a fixed ground-mounted frame “to define the site and secure the weather radar and all associated site works and services”.
In Co Donegal, a similar structure has been approved at Loughfad.
A section of forestry will be felled to facilitate the structure, which will measure 30m in height and 8m in diameter.
The two applications were lodged in October and were approved just before Christmas.
Met Éireann is currently undergoing an expansion of its National Weather Radar Network to improve its monitoring of rainfall and accuracy in forecasting.
It said it had selected the Kilkenny site, which is located approximately 10km north-east of Kilkenny City, close to the Kilkenny-Carlow border, “as it offers coverage of the vast majority of the south-east which is an area currently poorly observed both by the Dublin radar (due to blocking by the Wicklow Mountains) and by the Shannon radar due to distance”.
Great to see Met Éireann granted planning permission just over the border in County Kilkenny for a new rainfall radar. Be great to get the new radars up and running. pic.twitter.com/xqL8B2N8ct
— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) January 18, 2026
“It is a greenfield zone situated within the Reevanagh Woods, a natural forest area surrounded by low-lying vegetation, bounded by other stretches of forests and agricultural lands where forestry and agriculture are principal land uses”, the forecaster added.
The construction of a radar at the site in Donegal “will vastly improve weather radar coverage in the North-West, where rainfall is currently poorly observed due to distance from the existing Dublin and Shannon radars”.
The Kilkenny and Donegal radars are two of five Met Éireann is seeking to install over the coming years. It is also seeking to install radars in Roscommon, Cork, and Meath.
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