An estimated 40 per cent of the main potato crop is still unharvested because of the wet weather, which has delayed the finish of the harvest by three weeks.
The greatest danger to the potatoes, according to Teagasc potato expert, Mr Tom Maher, is frost may kill them in what has been the latest harvest he has known.
While most of the farmers in the south of the country made a large inroad into saving the crop, their efforts have now been brought to a full stop with the heavy rain of the last 48 hours.
But the most serious problems remain in the north Co Dublin, Meath and Louth cropfields where the bulk of the maincrop potatoes are grown for the Irish market.
Mr Maher said farmers in these counties did not have the requisite number of dry days to allow the harvest be completed.
"The weather has been so bad that farmers in these areas needed 10 clear dry days before they could even think of going into the fields," he said.
"The main problem is that machinery will sink if put on soft ground and they are unable to take the dug potatoes from the fields.
"The Louth farmers were doing pretty well until the last few days but the rainbelt that swept over the country has renewed the problem," he said.
One such farmer is Mr David Rodgers from Ballyboughal, Co Dublin who yesterday was surveying 50 acres of potatoes which he fears he could lose.
"I have put the machinery away because I cannot get in on the fields. Unfortunately, if we get dry weather now it is likely to be frosty and that will kill the crop completely," he said.
"We have had some very bad seasons down the years but I remember nothing like this ever before.
"The harvest of 2000 was pretty miserable and so was 1998 but this far outbeats them all. It could be that the weather is changing and we are going to be hit every two years."
Mr Rodgers, who grows 250 acres of potatoes annually, balancing his crop between the early market and maincrop, said he and his neighbours are anxiously looking at the weather charts.
"It takes much longer for the ground to dry up at this time of year because there is no drying so you just have to wait for the water to run off," he said.
"We should have had all the crop saved three weeks ago but we are still far from finished lifting a crop which will be lighter than usual."
He estimated that up to 50 per cent of the maincrop in the area had still to be harvested and only one farmer had been able to lift potatoes yesterday.
Mr Malachy Mitchell, the National Potato Marketing co-ordinator of the Irish Farmers' Association, said he believed that there were still €30 million worth of potatoes in the ground.
"My best estimate is that there are at least 100,000 tonnes of potatoes which have yet to be saved and there are still a lot of problems facing those wanting to get them out," he said.
"I have been told by Teagasc that at their Kildalton College farm there has been 57 inches of rain so far this year when the average for a full year should only be 44 inches.
"The main problem we face now is frost and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that we will not be hit by that or the crop will be destroyed," he said.
Mr Mitchell said the growers believed they could keep the Irish markets supplied with maincrop potatoes already harvested and that they would be lucky enough to get the remainder of the maincrop before any more damage was caused to it.