Weathering the storm

Confirmation that July was the wettest on record came as little surprise after weeks of looking out the rain-splashed window and dodging puddles while the blissful sunny days on the beach last summer are a distant memory.

For most of July, playgrounds remained empty, only the hardiest braved the beach for a swim and the picnic blankets continued to gather dust.

When the odd day of reprieve came, people were sure the make the most of it, knowing another deluge was never far away.

While we all moaned about the awful weather, what impact did it have on those who usually rely on the summer months to "make hay while the sun shines"?

Aine Mahon, one of the proprietors of Bosca located at Marcie Regan's in Trim, said their business is very weather dependent and the bad weather meant there were days when they had no choice but to send some of their staff home.

"It has been a tough summer for the business," said Aine.

"The wet summer has impacted on us in a couple of ways. Our outdoor area, which we have invested in for seating, doesn't get used and the ice-cream side of things doesn't tick over. When it is raining, people are not looking for ice-creams.

"Then there is the knock-on effect on our staff. It is the last thing we want to do, but there have been days when we have had no choice but to send staff home."

Aine explained that mid-week they would usually have three staff on but when the weather is wet, they can usually manage on one. Similarly at weekends, they would usually have four staff on but when its raining, they would only need two.

"June was good but it feels like it has been consistently raining since the 20th June. We have had pretty much six weeks of non-stop rain. Our regulars are very loyal and still come in for coffee but when it is raining heavily they will go somewhere covered."

"We are so weather dependent. We thrive when its sunny but suffer when it is raining".

Meanwhile, Charles Coyle managing director of Emerald Park said numbers were overall down on last July due to the weather but that on the good days they were "out the door busy".

"We definitely would have seen a different year-on-year with the 214 per cent above normal rainfall. Definitely numbers weren't as good as last year. But it's not a catastrophic fall off or anything like that. Last year the weather was so good, absolutely smashing, so numbers definitely weren't as good in July 23 as it was in 22.

"On the rare occasions when it was a dry day, we were out the door busy. When it was busy, it was maybe a little bit busier than the previous year, but there were so many days of bad weather. It was depressing, is what it was."

Charles said they have their fingers crossed that the rest of August will be much better adding that "everyone deserves it at this stage".

Sarah Shortt of Loughcrew Megalithic Centre said the poor weather definitely had an impact on thier business with a large number of camping cancellations due to the weather.

"We have noticed a decrease in day visitors to the Loughcrew cairns in comparison to other years. Here at the campsite, the heavy rain experienced has had a big impact. Unfortunately we received a large number of camping cancellations throughout the month of July due to the weather.

"Thankfully we have our campervan and glamping sections to fall back on which don't rely on the weather so much. Our glamping in particular has had a great season with almost 100% occupancy since May. We would be hopeful for some sunshine coming into August and September and that all the campers who cancelled earlier in the season will get a chance to get out and get the tent pitched before the kids go back to school."

Rachel Coyle of Rock Farm, Slane said they had no cancellations due to the weather and that people made the best of their stay despite the weather. She said they noticed people liked to sit in the hot tub and enjoy the contrast with the rainy weather.

James Murray of Boyne Valley Activities said the coffee side of the business was affected by the weather more than the kayaking during July and that overall it hadn't been a bad month for the kayaking.

"Adults will cancel because of the weather, but children won't. Kids will go ahead regardless. We ring a week ahead to confirm a booking and adults will drop out because of the weather but a parent having a birthday party here won't."

However, the weather did have an impact on their coffee dock with outdoor seating area, which is gets a lot of business from people using the playground next door.

James said the playground was empty on the wet days but packed if the weather dried up.

"Everybody is getting clever to the weather. If it is not raining, the first dry day, it is mental. People are getting out if they get any window and they are coming out in abundance. If there are three to four days of rain and the following day is dry, the playground is mental. It is helping to make up for a the quieter days but it is not comparison to having the 30 good days we had in June.

However, James explained that the rain also helps his business in other ways by keeping the river levels up. " Rain is good for the kayaking. While my wife was stressing in the coffee dock, I was welcoming it with open arms. Last August the good weather meant you couldn't get from Trim to Bective as the levels were so low.

James said the weather is not impacting on visitor numbers to the town in general and the town is packed with tourists and visitors.

He feels the extreme weather is something businesses are going to have to plan for the future in terms of providing shelter and that this weather will become more typical. "We get torrential downpours and the wetsuits are lashed on an then ten minutes later the steam is coming off them".

Meanwhile, it seems people were taking every opportunity to jet off to the sun if they could with Dublin Airport recording its busiest day ever last month with 120,585 passengers travelling through Dublin Airport on 30th July. For the month of July, just over 3.4 million passengers travelled through the airport, an increase of 13 per cent on the same month in 2022 and on a par with July 2019.

Kenny Jacobs, Chief Executive of the Dublin Airport Authority, said: "Given July was the wettest month on record, it's perhaps no surprise that thousands of passengers opted to swap soggy Ireland for sunnier climes and jumped on a flight for a last-minute summer holiday.

“The busiest days in July normally come in the middle part of the month, but this year passenger numbers continued to rise as the month went on at both Dublin and Cork airports."