Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly left her high-profile forecasting role in Met Éireann because of the chronic stress she experienced in ever-deteriorating work conditions, she has said.
Ms Donnelly was a regular fixture on the weather forecast for a decade, having first joined Met Éireann in August 1995. She concluded her last televised broadcast on the RTÉ Nine O’Clock news on April 21st last by stating: “And that is my last forecast ... goodnight and goodbye.”
She stressed that she had excellent colleagues at Met Éireann. However, she said the workplace was overly controlling and that restrictions were even placed on her volunteer work in the community. This included having to ask for permission every time she visited a school to talk to students about science.
The Dublin native noticed a change in work after she published a book in 2018. The first time she was disciplined was when she wrote on her social media that she had bought a particular brand of hairdryer second-hand and had loved the results, she said. She was also disciplined after she judged a science competition without permission.
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In hindsight, Ms Donnelly, who also appeared on Dancing with the Stars in January 2025, believes that all of the restrictions left her permanently exhausted and stressed.
“It [the stress] was going on for a couple of years. I spent a fortune at the doctor. Taking bloods. Was it post-viral? It was stress and I didn’t know, which is shocking,” she told The Irish Times.
Ms Donnelly said that being employed by Met Éireann was her dream job and that she never imagined she would leave it.
“Nobody else could imagine me leaving either, and I think that was part of the problem. I kept saying ‘You can’t do this. This is not right. This is not the way to treat people.’
“But they thought ‘What is she going to do?’ It is very hard to leave. I was traumatised.”
The DCU graduate believes there is an overly stringent interpretation of the Civil Service code of behaviour in Met Éireann. She adored her job and says she was never nervous on camera.
“I am flying in front of the camera. I always took every single weather forecast I issued 100 per cent seriously. I always did due diligence.
“But it was things like if I wasn’t explicitly on shift assigned to a media role, I had to get permission to answer a query from a newspaper about the weather. Which often left newspapers and radio going elsewhere for their soundbite.”
She said whatever her next job is, she hopes to be able to use her voice on the subject of climate change.
“I am going to use my voice going forward on that message of climate change,” she said. “Where blame should be sent to and definitely not to the farmers.”
Meanwhile, when contacted, Met Éireann issued a statement stating the national forecaster is a line division of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
“As an employer, the department has a duty to its employees not to disclose any information of a personal nature, and accordingly, the department does not comment on any matters related to individual members of staff.
“As a division of a Civil Service Department, all employees of Met Éireann are civil servants. Civil servants are obliged to work within certain standards, under the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour. The department, and Met Éireann, also have a policy on media and social media.
“Civil servants have recourse to the Civil Service grievance procedure for complaints such as those mentioned.”
