Share
9th January 2025
10:44am GMT
A local TD in Limerick has hit out at Met Éireann for not introducing a Status Red weather warning as up to 14 inches of snow and temperatures as low as -8C continue to disrupt services across the country.
Ireland's meteorological service has issued several orange warnings for low temperature and ice this week, with another scheduled to come into effect from 7pm this evening through to 8am Friday morning.
⚠️Status Orange - Low Temperature/Ice warning for Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway, Roscommon, Tipperary⚠️
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) January 9, 2025
Valid: 19:00 Thursday 09/01/2025 to 08:00 Friday 10/01/2025
More detail 👇https://t.co/lvQFgW8DsS pic.twitter.com/Op6VodTn6C
Thousands in rural areas have gone several days without electricity for heat and light, water to make tea, to shower and flush toilets, and poor or no mobile phone coverage to communicate.
Some elderly people have been left completely snowed in and isolated, with loved ones unable to get to them due to the dangerous conditions of roads.
ESB crews are currently working to restore electricity to around 4,000 customers, with the ESB PowerWatch map showing the areas affected by faults.
Despite the best efforts of local authorities and the Irish Army, road conditions have remained treacherous and many people have woken up to their third or fourth day without power or provisions.
TD for Limerick County, Richard O'Donoghue, has questioned why a more severe weather warning hasn't been put in place for the areas worst affected, adding that he believes Met Éireann have "left Limerick down, they've left Kerry down, they've left parts of Cork down".
Speaking to the Limerick Leader, Mr O'Donoghue said: "If this isn't a red warning, I don’t know what is. In 2010, we got three or four inches of snow. I'm 54 years of age and we've never got this fall of snow.
"If people knew that we were getting that heavy fall of snow, do you think we would be prepared? Yes, we would."
He continued: "If this was to happen in Dublin, would they have got a Status Red warning? It looks like that if you're outside of Dublin and are snowed in for days you don’t matter.
"A Red warning means that everyone is off the road so if a Red warning was given for Sunday they would have got everything out throughout Saturday. People would have worked through the night to get it done. Met Eireann have left Limerick down, they've left Kerry down, they've left parts of Cork down."
The former Fianna Fáil politician has taken it upon himself to provide assistance to people in need within his community.
Earlier this week, he rescued a man stuck in a car for three hours, brought a heavily-pregnant woman to the maternity ward of a local hospital, and delivered blocks to a house in Bruree for people with special needs who had no heat.
It certainly doesn't appear as though the brutal cold snap is going to ease up anytime soon. Met Éireann has warned that Thursday will be ‘bitterly cold’ with widespread frost, ice and patches of freezing fog.
The National Emergency Coordination Group met on Wednesday morning to discuss the cross-department and agency response to sub-zero hazardous conditions.
People left without power have been assured by the ESB that they can use facilities in nearby hotels, particularly in parts of Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary, until power is back up and running at their own properties.
Explore more on these topics:
