Met Eireann says 2014 was wet warm and sunny across the country with hurricane force winds recorded early in the year.

Hurricane force winds recorded in February with a gust of 159 kilometres an hour recorded at Shannon Airport - its highest since records began in 1945.

Nearly all weather stations had above average sunshine - the sunniest day of the year was on June 17th when 15.8 hours of sunshine were recorded at Belmullet in Co Mayo.

Durrow in Co Laois had the highest temperature of 2014 on July 25th when the mercury hit 28.8 degrees.

The coldest day of the year was December 19th in Mullingar in Co Westmeath when temperatures fell to -6.9 degrees.