Motorists are being warned to take extreme care if driving in the Wicklow Mountains tonight, following a number of minor road accidents due to snow.

An investigation is continuing in to an aggravated burglary in West Wicklow this morning.

After the extremes of a summer and winter in just 10 days, the Easter weekend looks set to return to the decidedly average conditions that characterise an Irish spring.

Two people were rescued from their car on Wicklow's Sally Gap last night after becoming stuck in snowfalls there.

Motorists were warned to take extra care after gale force winds battered the country.

FOUR people died in a series of tragic incidents at the weekend.

A motorcyclist was killed today when his bike crashed into a ditc

Heavy rain has significantly disrupted transport this evening, particularly in the Leinster region.

Motorists are once again being urged to drive with extreme care today.

Road conditions are hazardous across the country after heavy overnight snowfall and ice, it was warned today.

Motorists were today warned to be extra vigilant today after heavy snowfall and low temperatures left driving treacherous conditions.

ALEXANDER WETTERHALL (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro) left many of the big names scratching their heads in wonderment after he built on his midweek escape to claim overall victory in the FBD Insurance Rás which concluded before a huge crowd that turned out in glorious sunshine in Skerries yesterday.

Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro) left many of the big names scratching their heads in wonderment after he built on his midweek escape to claim overall victory in the FBD Insurance Rás which concluded before a huge crowd that turned out in glorious sunshine in Skerries today.

Irish rider Mark Cassidy (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) realised a childhood dream today in Kilcullen when he won the penultimate stage seven of this year's FBD Insurance Rás.

RACE leader Alexander Wetterhall (Team Sprocket Pro) is bracing himself for another tough day of climbing as today’s penultimate stage of the FBD Insurance Rás takes the riders into the Wicklow Mountains.

The AA is today advising motorists to avoid the Sally Gap in the Wicklow mountains, due to heavy snowfall.

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has been urged to provide emergency funding to rural areas badly affected by the weather crisis in an attempt to prevent needless deaths across the country.

IRELAND’S capital was brought to a near standstill as arctic blizzard conditions forced Dublin airport to cancel more than 50 flights and led to almost all bus services in the city being suspended.

Met Éireann is warning of large snow falls across the east of the country this afternoon, severely disrupting transport, as the sub-zero conditions show no sign of abating.

MORE wintry showers are predicted for large parts of Ireland today after heavy frost caused major disruption on roads across the country yesterday.

MORE wintry showers are predicted for large parts of Ireland today after heavy frost caused major disruption on roads across the country yesterday.

FREEZING weather conditions will continue well into next week, with widespread frost making roads extremely hazardous but the prospect of a white Christmas is slipping away.

A severe weather warning was issued today as temperatures were forecast to plummet to minus five degrees.

BRIAN KENNEALLY has recovered from his third win in the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, but has not yet decided if he will contest the Shay Elliott Memorial in Bray next Sunday when he could opt for the big race down south, the Bill Hyland Memorial in Clonmel.

THE start of the thaw is on the way as freezing and snowy conditions of the past week near an end.

Rail passengers face further travel chaos tonight after a landslide closed the main line between Wicklow and Wexford.

Snow fell on many parts of the country today as a late winter chill began to bite.

A SUSPECT in the murder of a young man in a Dublin hotel in the early hours of New Year’s Day was arrested last night.

GARDAÍ said last night there was no breakthrough into the murder of a Dublin man whose body was found dumped on Friday in the Wicklow Gap.

Gardaí have named the man whose body was discovered near the Wicklow Gap yesterday as 27-year-old Eoin McCarthy from Ashwood Park in Clondalkin in Dublin.

GARDA experts scoured for forensic clues yesterday after a young man was shot and dumped at a remote mountain location.

Gardaí confirmed this afternoon they are treating the discovery of a man's body in the Wicklow Gap as suspicious.

Gardaí are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a man whose body was found on the side of a road near the Wicklow Gap this morning.

A motorcyclist in his 30s has died in a road accident in Co Wicklow.

Gardaí and locals from Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, have rescued 60 Italian tourists who got stranded in the Wicklow Mountains.

A former Irish Army sergeant is today beginning a life sentence - for a murder committed nearly 23 years ago.

The former army sergeant accused of murdering Kildare woman Phyllis Murphy almost 23 years ago has told his trial jury that it is "absolutely impossible" that there is a DNA match between his blood and semen found in her body.

Two former co-workers of murder accused John Crerar told his trial that they saw him washing out the boot of his car with boiling water days after the disappearance of Kildare woman, Phyllis Murphy, over 22 years ago.

A former member of the defence forces who worked as a security guard with John Crerar on the night Kildare woman Phyllis Murphy disappeared has told a jury he lied to gardai when he provided an alibi for Mr Crerar back in 1980.

Blood and semen samples that the DPP alleges link former army sergeant John Crerar to the murder of Kildare woman, Phyllis Murphy, remained in Garda lockers for 17 years, a jury has heard.

Injuries to the body of Phyllis Murphy, the young Kildare woman found naked and strangled in a wooded area near the Wicklow Gap more than 22 years ago, were consistent with rape, the state pathologist Dr John Harbison has told the trial of a former army sergeant accused of her murder.

The former army sergeant on trial for the murder of Kildare woman Phyllis Murphy over 22 years ago told gardai he could not remember ever speaking to her.

Gardai are warning of hazardous driving conditions in the east.

Road chaos is hampering thousands of motorists across the nation as snowstorms and blizzards intensify.