People are being urged to take care today and tomorrow as Storm Brian approaches Ireland.

Met Éireann has issued three warnings for the next 36 hours.

A status orange wind warning is in place for the coasts of Mayo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Waterford and Wexford from 3am tomorrow morning until 6pm in the evening.

While the Atlantic coastal counties are expected to experience the most severe conditions, a lower-level status yellow warning applies to the rest of the country from 3am until 10pm tomorrow.

A status yellow rainfall warning is also in place for southern and western coastal counties until 9pm tomorrow.

Several ferry services between Ireland and the UK have already been cancelled ahead of the stormy conditions.

The Coast Guard is urging people to be cautious in the wet & windy conditions.

In a statement, they said: "The Coast Guard strongly advises the public to stay away from exposed beaches, cliffs and piers, harbour walls and promenades along the coast tomorrow.

"Remember to ‘stay back, stay high, stay dry’. If you see someone in difficulty in the sea, on the shore dial 999/112 and ask for the Coast Guard."

The Road Safety Authority, meanwhile, is encouraging motorists to check local road and traffic conditions before making a trip over the weekend, and is also urging people to be vigilant while driving, cycling or walking.

National parks

The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht says Dromore Woods Reserve, Co Clare and Coole Park, Gort, Galway will both be closed the public tomorrow due to the status orange warning.

St Gobnait's Wood in Ballyvourney, Co Cork remains closed due to damage from Storm Ophelia.

The department said: "The public are also advised to take care when visiting Killarney National Park and Glengarriff Nature Reserve as high winds could result in falling trees or branches already weakened by ex-hurricane Ophelia.

"Preferably the public should avoid high risk areas in the Park and Reserve or consider deferring visits until after storm Brian has passed."

The next batch of severe weather is due to arrive as crews around the country continue to deal with the aftermath of Monday's storm.

Around 40,000 people are still without power as a result of Ophelia, while as of last night 17,500 people were still without water supplies.

However, a vast majority of people have now had their power or water restored following major outages earlier this week.