Motorists urged to take extra care as Met Eireann issues warning over icy conditions

Met Éireann has issued a Status Yellow - Low Temperature/Ice warning for Ireland after a cold night saw minimum temperatures of zero to minus 4 degrees.

As a result ice has been forming on untreated surfaces, which has created difficulties for drivers during the week.

Conor Faughnan from the AA urged people to take extra care if they are driving this morning.

“There are roads that never thawed out from yesterday, so very icy conditions, particularly on the secondary roads and it is countrywide,” he said.

“The advice has to be to slow down. There’s reduced traffic with the Covid restrictions, but there’s still plenty of people on essential journeys.”

Mr Faughnan said it had been a “treacherous” week on Irish roads, with a surprising amount of accidents given reduced traffic amid Covid-19 restrictions.

“We’re reporting an increased incidence at AA Roadwatch, which does surprise us because the Covid restrictions have reduced traffic volumes considerably,” he said.

“But still a lot of people [are] out there and every morning this week has been icy, so there has been dangerous conditions on roads.

“We’ve had lots of minor bumps and knocks, car breakdowns even, so it has been a treacherous week on the roads.”