Vol. 482 No. 6
124 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the monitoring, if any, her Department has undertaken regarding the accuracy of Met Éireann's weather forecasts; and the proposals, if any, she has to invest in or upgrade its technological analysis and work in this regard. [18572/97]
Met Éireann is an integral part of my Department and carries out its own monitoring of the accuracy of weather forecasts on a continuous basis. Those rare occasions when significant weather events are not accurately predicted are subjected to special scrutiny so that appropriate lessons can be learned. Efforts to improve the accuracy of forecasts are constantly pursued, as are better ways of monitoring the accuracy of forecasts.
Despite the significant advances which have been made in weather forecasting over the last twenty years, 100 per cent accuracy is not claimed or achieved by any meteorological service but Met Éireann's standards are on a par with similar organisations abroad.
There is ongoing investment by my Department in appropriate new technology in pursuit of high standards and best practice abroad. In 1997, for example, two automatic weather stations were installed and improved computing facilities enabled an enhanced version of the computer weather forecast system to be implemented in September. Plans for 1998 include further investment in weather satellite systems and in automatic weather stations.
