Enforced closures may mean shorter school breaks

TENS of thousands of children may have to take shorter mid-term or Christmas holidays after the bad weather forced their schools to close.

Hundreds of schools did not open yesterday after the heavy weekend snowfalls and dangerous driving conditions, particularly in coastal and eastern counties. The continued freezing conditions could lead to those closures being extended today, and hundreds more schools telling students to stay at home.

More than 60 schools in Wicklow, where some of the lowest temperatures on record have been experienced in recent days, were reported as being closed by local radio. Dozens more were closed in coastal regions of Cork, particularly in west Cork, and in Kerry as bus services were cancelled and families in isolated areas left stranded after around three to four inches of snow fell locally overnight on Sunday and in the early hours of yesterday.