Meta issues statement after users report problems accessing Facebook and Instagram

Some users reported being unable to access the services, all run by the company Meta.

According to the website Downdetector.ie, which tracks issues on websites in real time on the island of Ireland, around 2,700 reports of outages on Instagram were made by 10am and over 2,000 reports of outages on the Facebook app.

Some users also reported WhatsApp was affected by the outages.

All the apps now seem to be fully operational again, as people across the world took to Twitter to joke about the problems, with the hashtags “Facebookdown” and “Instagramdown” both trending on the platform.

In response, a Meta spokesperson said: "We’re aware that some people in Ireland are having trouble accessing our products.

“Earlier today, a technical issue caused some people to have trouble accessing our apps and services.

"We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologise for any inconvenience.”