12,000 households and businesses are without power around the country after high winds.

ESB network crews are working to restore power to affected areas of the South-West, Mid-West and North-West.

In the South 8,000 customers in Killarney, Co. Kerry and Bandon, Co. Cork are worst-affected.

While across the the Mid-West and North-West, a further 4,000 are without power in pockets of the region.

ESB Networks say it hopes to restore power within the next few hours now that high winds have stopped.

Broadband & phone outages

Meanwhile Eircom says they are currently dealing with over 4,500 faults on their network that have been reported in recent days because of stormy weather.

The company says all available staff are working to repair the problems.

But they warn that because they are across a wide area it could take longer in some parts.

In a statement the company says both broadband and telephone services are impacted.

They are asking customers, where possible, to log faults on the Eircom website or through the automated customer service line 1901.