Thaw to set in on Sunday
As well as severely hampering Christmas shopping, the arctic weather has seen another festive tradition hit with Sunday and Monday’s cards at Leopardstown cancelled and the prestigious meeting now just running from Tuesday to Thursday.
The Magners League rugby match between Connacht and Munster has been moved from Sunday to Monday, December 27, in the Sportsground, Galway.
Yesterday saw continued heavy snow showers in many areas but particularly along the east coast.
Crowds of travellers continued to be disappointed, with Dublin airport closed for periods due to deteriorating conditions on the runways. Aer Lingus cancelled all scheduled flights from Dublin last night while Cork and Shannon airports remained open.
Met Éireann is predicting that a thaw will not set in until Sunday, with outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow developing along the west coast early that morning and spreading slowly eastwards through the day, reaching the east coast by the early afternoon.
A Met Éireann spokesman said: “It may snow heavily for a time but by the end of Sunday the snow will have turned back to rain. Finally on Sunday night temperatures will stay above freezing.”
The closure of Dublin airport for three hours yesterday morning and shorter periods later in the day saw the travel plans of more than 6,000 people disrupted.
An airport spokesman said airlines would now work through the night to help clear the backlog, while contingency plans were being drawn up to open on Christmas Day.
Irish Ferries said it was experiencing it busiest period in years with only its Pembroke/Rosslare routes continuing to have much availability.
To cater for the stranded, Bus Éireann is to provide intercity services on Christmas Day. Services will operate to and from Limerick, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Rosslare Harbour, Ballina, Sligo, Waterford, Letterkenny, Donegal, Clonmel, and Derry. All services will operate via the main towns.
National Roads Authority spokesman Seán O’Neill said the organisation was “feeling much better” about the amount of salt available to treat roads after an early delivery of 3,000 tonnes to Dublin Port on Tuesday.
Further shipments were scheduled to arrive in coming days, meaning the amount of salt used to treat motorways and primary routes would be increased by 50% to 3,000 tonnes daily.
Roads around Mallow, Bandon, Bantry and Glengarriff in Cork were particularly affected by frost, snow and ice yesterday.
All of Cork’s main roads remained open and passable, though extreme care was advised on Carr’s Hill near Carrigaline and on most secondary routes.
In Kerry there have been local radio appeals for owners of four-wheel drives to help ferry home-helps and provisions to elderly people in upland locations.
Fine Gael Road Safety Spokesman Tom Hayes, said there must be increased co-operation between local communities and local authorities.
“The work being done during this time by members of some local authorities is exemplary.
“Sadly, I am receiving reports that some local authorities appear to be better at getting the job done than others,” said the TD.
