Up to 50mm of rain is expected to fall in parts of the country over a 24-hour period, according to Met Eireann.

A status yellow rainfall warning for Connacht, Munster and counties Kilkenny and Donegal has been issued at lunchtime today.

The warning will be valid between 9:00pm on Wednesday, September 26, and 9:00pm on Thursday, September 27.

Rainfall accumulations of between 30mm and 50mm are expected over a 24-hour period, Met Eireann warned.

In counties Cork and Kerry, there is a danger of accumulations being higher in hilly and mountainous areas.

This latest weather warning is sure to put a halt to a lot of farmers’ plans to spread slurry over the coming days.

These accumulations are also expected to add fuel to the argument that the deadline for spreading slurry should be extended to the end of October.

Independent TD for the Roscommon-Galway constituency, Michael Fitzmaurice, called upon both the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, and the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, to grant an extension.

Slurry is still in the tanks and needs to be spread before the cattle go into the sheds.

“I am appealing to those in authority to announce an extension to the deadline as soon as possible and not leave it to the last day or two as fields will be badly cut up if farmers spread slurry on the land the way it is.

“The west of Ireland has been particularly affected, with marginal land unusable at the moment and even top quality land needs time to dry out,” Fitzmaurice concluded.