Dublin Crisis Group Meets On Weather

Dublin airport has this morning reopened after a second night of heavy snowfall closed the main runway to all traffic.

However, passengers are still being asked to check with airlines before setting out to the airport as more than 150 flights from Dublin were cancelled on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, Belfast City Airport and Belfast International Airport are operating with minimal disruption.

City of Derry Airport is also open for business but passengers have been warned to check with their airlines in case of problems elsewhere.

Temperatures are expected to remain below freezing across all of Ireland today with some light snowfall also expected in NI while south easterly rain or sleet makes its way from the coast this evening.

On Friday, NI will continue to cloud over from the west with outbreaks of sleet and snow accompanied by a fresh southerly breeze.

There has been little relief in Dublin however, after conditions worsened overnight and various representatives of Government departments - along with officials from a wide group of State agencies - met to consider the ongoing severe weather.

The Environment Minister John Gormley, Transport Minister, Noel Dempsey and Defence Minister, Tony Kileen also attended yesterday's meeting of the Inter Agency Co-ordination Group in Dublin.

Meetings of the Group have been occurring daily as the severe weather has intensified, which saw the meeting chaired by Sean Hogan the National Director for Fire and Emergency Management.

Also included at the crisis talks was Evelyn Cusack, Met Éireann; Michael Philips, the Dublin City Engineer; Cliona Ní Fhatharta of Dublin Bus; Andrew McLindon of Bus Éireann; Barry Kenny, Iarnrod Éireann; Sean O'Neill of the National Roads Authority; Brian Brogan of the Department of Education and Fergal Goodman, Department of Health.

They met as all fights from Dublin were suspended due to snow and the DAA said the decision was taken for safety reasons as snow was falling quicker than it could be cleared.

The main runway at the airport was previously rendered unavailable for flight operations for more than an hour on Wednesday morning as the snow and ice was cleared - and then closed completely in the late afternoon.

Also, while rail services were still operating, they were being subjected to at least 30 minutes delays passing through Dublin's Connolly Station.

There were also some delays on Wednesday and diversions on Bus Éireann routes and also Dublin Bus was only operating with limited service as further snow fell last night.

A statement said: "Dublin Bus is making every effort to maintain a level of services but this is proving very difficult due to the worsening road conditions."

In other developments, Eircom warned that broadband and telephone customers across the country were reporting faults.

"The worst areas are Wicklow, Wexford, Carlow, Dublin City and County. Approximately 1,100 faults have been reported," said a statement late yesterday afternoon.

The Health Service Executive said initial reports suggested there has been a slight increase in the number of people presenting themselves at hospitals with sprains and fractures as temperatures were forecast to plummet to between -3C and -10C in the early hours of Thursday.

Further snow showers affected many parts of Leinster, as well as east Munster, during Wednesday and accumulations of between 3cm and 8cm were present after midnight, with deeper snow on higher ground with a risk of some local drifting.

Ground frost persisted in places all day on Wednesday and was severe overnight with people being advised not to travel at all unless necessary.

Motorists were advised to exercise caution with many road surfaces reported to be dangerous and right across the country roads today are described as slippery with many secondary roads impassable.

(BMcC/GK)