It seems as though the country is shutting down and that will certainly be the case from around 4pm tomorrow afternoon.
A Red snow-ice warning for Munster and Leinster has been issued by Met Eireann, with the forecaster warning that ‘blizzard-like’ conditions will develop
The warning comes in to place at 4pm on Thursday and will continue until noon on Friday.
The forecaster said blizzard-like conditions will develop along with heavy snow and strong easterly winds on Thursday evening and will continue throughout Thursday night and Friday morning.
Meanwhile, employers need to start making individuals assessment as to whether they should close ahead of a “severe weather event”, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group is meeting this morning and is expected to give direct guidance to schools for Thursday and Friday.
Mr Varadkar said: “We’re facing a severe weather event. We know that the worst is yet to come.”
But on the issue of businesses closing, Mr Varadkar said it would not be appropriate to issue a “blanket instruction”.
“Each employer should make an individual assessment. All workplaces are different,” he said.
The Taoiseach urged companies to factor in their location and whether it is possible for their staff to work from home.
Mr Varadkar said there is “no legal obligation employers to pay staff who don’t make it into work”.
But he asked employers “to be sensible and reasonable where an employee can’t make work or is told not to come in”.
“There has to be a balance,” he said, adding that companies would suffer revenue loss as a result of the weather.
“We’ve already been affected by significant snow falls,” he said, adding that the full “machinery of the State” will be used to keep the country moving.
But Mr Varadkar urged people in areas affected by the Status Red weather alert not to make unnecessary journeys.
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