Day three of the National Ploughing Championships will “definitely go ahead”, the National Ploughing Association (NPA) has confirmed.

Business will resume “as usual” following on from today’s cancellation (due to adverse weather conditions), as Storm Ali struck the country with force.

In an unprecedented decision, the NPA has also decided to run the ‘Ploughing’ for an additional day – with the site set to open on Friday (September 21) for the first time.

This will see exhibitors and crowds attempt to recoup footfall lost due to today’s forced closure.

The decision to cancel day two of the event was made just before noon. The news came as Storm Ali swept across the country, causing severe damage in places.

Weather conditions originally forced the NPA to delay the opening time of the event to 11:00am this morning but this was later pushed back to 12:00pm.

However, due to the severity of the weather conditions, the full day’s activities were then cancelled.

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.