No thaw in sight as White Christmas looks likely
Met Éireann said that while most of the country will be dry and bright today with just a few snow showers near the east coast, top temperatures will still reach no higher than 2ºC and could be as low as -6ºC in some parts, meaning the snow will still not melt.
Tonight the temperature will dip to as low as -16ºC in parts of the west and north and will not rise above -12ºC in other areas.
Snow will hit the southeast coast and parts of Ulster on Christmas Eve and temperatures will remain well below zero for much of the country. Christmas Day will see slightly higher temperatures, 3ºC in some areas, but elsewhere it could remain as low as -3ºC. Then on St Stephen’s Day the temperature will finally begin to creep up to highs of 7ºC.
Yesterday, almost 200 passengers staged an eight-hour sit-in protest while stuck on board a plane stranded at Dublin Airport - at the same time as authorities insisted the transport hub was back on track.
The situation was revealed after a number of passengers on board the ABR407J flight from Dublin to Salzburg, which was delayed 32 hours and stopped from leaving three times, contacted the Irish Examiner to inform them of the protest.
The flight, which was carrying almost 200 customers of snow holiday firm Crystal Ski, was scheduled to take off on Tuesday morning at 7.35am.
However, due to the dangerous weather conditions and difficulties accessing one of the few de-icing machines at the transport hub, its departure was delayed until 2.30pm on Tuesday.
Passengers who boarded were told for the second time that they would not be leaving for their dream Christmas holiday, with further snowfalls grounding the flight until yesterday morning.
Both Crystal Ski and Dublin Airport officials did not accept responsibility for the situation or find overnight accommodation for their customers, forcing a large number to sleep overnight in the airport with just a €5 food and drink voucher.
All passengers re-boarded at 8am yesterday morning expecting the nightmare delay to end. However, after being forced to wait on board for four hours, they were asked to leave again — at which point they staged a sit-in protest.
“Crystal Ski’s attitude was it’s not their problem, contact your insurance operator,” explained passenger Eoghan O’Leary, from Glanmire in Cork city, who was travelling with his family.
Laura Catterson, 35, who had spent two nights at the airport after travelling from Derry with her 14-year-old daughter Enya Marie Pace and partner Grainne Kettlaar, 30, added that the weather has become an organisational issue.
The situation — which eventually ended at 4pm when the flight departed 32 hours late — developed as the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) said services were returning to normal.
The comment was made despite the fact at one stage early yesterday afternoon more than 50 planes were queuing for de-icing equipment — some of which had run out of de-icing fluid.
A total of 40,000 people who were due to fly out on Tuesday joined the estimated 60,000 passengers at the facility yesterday, adding to the problems.
Ryanair — which has put on 14 extra flights to Belgium, France, Ireland, Poland and Britain to cope with demand — has admitted “a small percentage of passengers” will not reach their destination in time for Christmas.
Spokesperson Stephen McNamara said 40 of its flights were cancelled at Dublin Airport yesterday while the extra journey to Poznan in Poland sold out “within half an hour”.
Aer Lingus has confirmed it will hire extra aircraft today and Christmas Eve to ensure passengers get home on time.
Irish Ferries has witnessed a surge in customers, but said it is impossible to charter extra ships.
Iarnród Éireann has also confirmed there have been issues with its website www.irishrail.ie due to the “extremely busy” demand.
Spokespeople for bus and rail services say they will endeavour to bring people home.
Meanwhile, the National Roads Authority has announced 3,000 tonnes of salt is due into Cork tonight and 4,000 tonnes in Dublin today.
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