The baking temperature has broken the previous record, which stood for 27 years, at Oak Park weather station, which has recorded the highest values during Ireland’s heatwave this week.

The 31.7C is almost 12 degrees warmer than the long-term average temperature of 19.9C.

“Oak Park, Co Carlow, has now reached 31.7°C (11.8°C above its 1981-2010 Long-Term Average). Provisionally beating the all-time August max temp record for Ireland, which was 31.5°C, set at both Ballybrittas, Co Laois in 1975 and Oak Park in 1995,” Met Éireann said on Twitter on Friday evening.

Irish Water said this evening the majority of its water treatment plants continue to meet the demand for water supply, but there has been a steady increase in the number of supplies that are being impacted by drought conditions.

Meanwhile a yellow weather alert has also been extended by 24 hours and is now valid until 6am on Monday.

The forecaster said it will be very warm or hot on Friday and Saturday with maximum temperatures generally between 27C to 29C with highs of 30C possible for the second day in a row.

It will be warm overnight with minimum temperatures generally between 15C. Temperatures may not be as high in coastal areas due to sea breezes, particularly in the northwest.

Met Éireann forecaster Gerry Murphy said:  “We have extended the hot weather warning for all of Ireland, Sunday was always going to be quite a hot day but there was some uncertainty of just exactly how hot it would be,” he said.

“But all the indications are that for most of the country temperatures are going to continue to reach between about 27C to 30C with the highest values mainly in Leinster and Munster.

“Now there is the possibility that a few places in the northwest won’t actually reach those criteria but that will depend on cloud amount and there will be enough places in the northwest in parts of Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and possibly Donegal as well to still justify them being included in that warning."

Mr Murphy said the hottest time of the day during these conditions is from 2pm to 3pm, depending on where you are.

“As you head to 4pm/5pm, you tend to find that values drop back slowly and continue to drop back in the evening,” he told the News At One on RTÉ.

Temperatures hit 31.4C in Carlow yesterday.

Speaking earlier this morning, Mr Murphy said temperatures could hit another degree higher today, resulting in record-breaking temperatures.

"The temperatures are expected to be another degree higher today in places, we are expected to break records today,” Mr Murphy said.

"It is very important people take great care, take care of their time in the sunshine, of heat stress, all those things need to be taken into account.”

However, Ireland is not set for drought conditions as the UK is expected to declare as part of their forecast today.

"I know in Britain they are set to declare a drought, but we’ve had quite a lot of rain during the August Bank Holiday weekend, especially in the western half of the country, we don’t have drought conditions and we won’t have them in this incident.

"We will see showers returning on Sunday and after that,” he added.

Speaking after the forecast, Mr Murphy said it is “much nicer” to be predicting the good weather, than Ireland’s winter storms.

"It’s important we give a good forecast, and share as much as we can, but yes, it is much nicer to be predicting good weather than the storms.

"We just have to take account of the potential impact of it, but it is always nice to enjoy the good weather.”

Meanwhile, with more hot weather due over the weekend and into next week, Irish Water is asking the public to continue their efforts to conserve water in order to ensure critical supplies can be maintained.

While the majority of Irish Water’s 750 water treatment plants continue to meet the demand for water supply there has been a steady increase in the number of supplies that are being impacted by drought conditions.

And the number of locations experiencing restrictions is likely to increase over the coming days and weeks as demand remains high due to the hot weather.

At present there are 37 supplies nationwide where Irish Water is implementing measures to ensure taps keep flowing.

In most cases, there is still no impact on customers but there are a small number of locations where overnight restrictions are in place. These include parts of West Cork, Kerry and Galway.

In addition to areas where there are active interventions taking place there are over 60 supplies around the country that are being closely monitored by Irish Water to ensure that normal supply is maintained for the rest of the Summer and into Autumn.

Tom Cuddy, Irish Water’s Head of Asset Operations, said, “We would like to thank the public for their support in conserving water to date and remind everyone to continue to take some simple steps to reduce their usage.

"By reducing our water use, for example turning off the hose and avoiding power washing, we can all help to avoid further restrictions and ensure there is enough water for homes and businesses, agriculture, fisheries and essential amenities as we go through the rest of the summer and into autumn.

“We will continue to monitor the levels at all our supplies over the coming weeks and take any actions that may be necessary to maintain supplies, including communicating about localised issues or restrictions as they arise.

"The list of locations experiencing drought conditions will also be updated regularly on www.water.ie where people can find out about their local water supply.”