Day two of the National Ploughing Championships has been cancelled due to unsafe weather conditions, it has been confirmed.

The news comes as Storm Ali sweeps across the country, causing severe damage in places.

Weather conditions originally forced the National Ploughing Association (NPA) to delay the opening time of the event to 11:00am this morning (Wednesday, September 19).

But this was pushed back to 12:00pm this morning.

However, due to the severity of the weather conditions, the full day has had to be cancelled.

Further details are expected from the NPA in due course.

Met Eireann issued a Status Orange weather warning for wind for 17 counties across the northern, western and midlands regions yesterday evening (Tuesday, September 18).

The wind warning was originally in place for counties Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Dublin, Kildare, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Westmeath, Meath, Clare and Kerry.

This warning has since expired, but a Status Yellow wind warning for the entire country remains in place until 5:00pm this evening.

It is expected that conditions will remain “very windy” across the country until this evening.

South to south-west winds will reach mean speeds of 50kph to 65kph, with gusts of 90kph to 110kph also likely. Wind speeds will be strongest in southern, western and northern coastal areas, according to Met Eireann.