Portmarnock, #1 on this list · Photo: Gpwitteveen (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Ireland · 2026

Driest towns in Ireland

The bottom of the list is Kenmare, with 1,856 mm. Every one of the ten best is in the same county. Portmarnock, Dublin, tops the list at 725 mm. Second and third places go to Donabate (725 mm) and Sutton (729 mm). Stepaside, the median town on the list, is at 937 mm.

Rain a year, Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 grid How grades work

#1

Portmarnock

Dublin · 10,750 people

725 mm Rain a year

Overall A⁺·#8 of 320

Strongest: health A⁺, jobs & income A·lowest: cost of living D⁻

#2

Donabate

Dublin · 9,669 people

725 mm Rain a year

Overall A⁻·#71 of 320

Strongest: hazard risk A, health A·lowest: cost of living C⁻

#3

Sutton

Dublin · 5,789 people

729 mm Rain a year

Overall B⁺·#89 of 320

Strongest: health A, walkability A·lowest: cost of living D⁻

Photos: Portmarnock, Gpwitteveen (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Donabate, Andrew Mcmillan (CC BY 3.0) · Sutton, Raymond Okonski (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking Irish towns against each other only, run #58 of 4 November 2026. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).