More than 6,500 homes and businesses are without power this morning following winds of up to 100 kilometres an hour overnight.

Most of the affected customers are in Blessington in Co Wicklow, and Enniscorthy, Co Wexford and 2,000 homes are off the grid across Munster.

The ESB says crews are working to restore service as quickly as possible.

There were some disruptions to rail services earlier but they have now been fixed.

Irish Rail spokesperson Barry Kenny says the disruption will continue for some time.

Meanwhile, Met Éireann have released a status orange warning for gales. They are warning of southerly winds veering westerly which will continue to reach gale force eight to storm force ten for a time early this morning from Malin Head to Howth Head to Carnsore Point and the Irish Sea.