Snow brings travel mayhem to capital

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.

As four inches of snow tumbled onto the city’s freezing streets, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) was left with no option but to effectively close the airport for five hours as officials battled with one of the worst cold snaps to hit Ireland in decades.

From 3pm passengers hoping to jet off on well-earned escapes to Paris, London, Rome, Malaga in Spain, Faro in Portugal and a host of North American and eastern European destinations were instead faced with crowded departure lounges as officials battled with the elements.

And while the snow, slush and black ice on the runways was eventually cleared by 8pm, the five-hour delay caused havoc with a backlog of flights creating serious disruptions throughout last night.

While freezing temperatures continued to hamper the rest of the country it was a tale of two countries as Cork once again enjoyed winter sunshine and was left untouched by the snow.

As conditions continued to deteriorate in the east, however, the vast majority of bus services in Dublin were cancelled from 4pm at the advise of the Gardaí due to the chaotic scenes.

Shortly after 5pm Dublin Bus confirmed that some services would resume on the main bus corridors after Dublin city council placed five gritting trucks out on the city’s streets.

However, services to Lucan, Blanchardstown, Fairview and Stillorgan continued to succumb to the weather, meaning Irish rail and Luas services faced thousands more commuters than expected as temperatures dipped to as low as -8C last night.

While east Leinster was at the forefront of the latest arctic conditions, other parts of the country were also continuing to suffer from the longest cold snap on these shores since 1963.

In addition to delays in Dublin, flights from Knock, Shannon and Cork airports to London Stansted and London Gatwick were delayed due to treacherous weather conditions in Britain.

A small number of flights were also cancelled at the departure hubs, including the Aer Lingus flight from London Gatwick to Knock at lunchtime and the inbound Ryanair flight from London Stansted, which was expected to arrive at midday.

Due to the nationwide freeze roads have been impassible in large parts of the country, including Wicklow, Kerry and Wexford, with AA Roadwatch urging people to avoid all mountainous areas and in particular the Wicklow Gap, Sally Gap and Enniscorthy regions.

Traffic has also been heavily disrupted on the N2 in Monaghan due to heavy snowfall, while the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has warned of treacherous icy conditions on secondary roads across counties Kerry, Cork, Donegal, Cavan, Meath, Offaly, Kilkenny and throughout Connacht.

As a result of the deteriorating weather, since Tuesday night the Air Corps has been called out to four air ambulance operations as the patients involved – all of whom were pregnant women – were unable to travel by road.

All four requests were from the Munster region, with the individuals involved understood to be making a full recovery.