Thousands still without electricity in Ireland

Thousands of customers in the Republic of Ireland are still without electricity and water as snow and icy weather conditions continue.

About 4,000 people are still without power while 4,500 are without water, though sub-zero conditions overnight are expected to cause more disruption.

Irish national weather service Met Éireann issued a yellow warning for snow and ice on Monday afternoon for the Republic of Ireland. This will remain in place until 12:00 local time on Friday.

Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) Micheál Martin said Munster and parts of Leinster had taken "a big hit" during the cold snap.

All of the Republic of Ireland is on at least a status yellow low temperature and ice warning until midday on Friday, but more severe alerts will also apply to the vast majority of the country.

Met Éireann said the extremely cold weather ran the risk of dangerous travelling conditions, transport delays and animal welfare issues.

A more severe status orange low temperature and ice warning was in place for most counties overnight and expired at 10:00 local time on Wednesday.

At 18:00, another orange-level warning came into effect for every county except Donegal, and will remain in place until 11:00 on Thursday.

Met Éireann reported that the lowest temperature recorded overnight was -5.7C at Casement Aerodrome in County Dublin.

Temperatures are expected to plummet even further to about minus 8C overnight into Thursday, before conditions begin to improve on Friday and into the weekend.

Transport operator Bus Éireann has announced a number of cancellations as the adverse weather conditions continue to affect its routes.

Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) say all routes are planned to operate, but delays and disruption may occur.

Uisce Éireann has reported that less than 4,000 customers remain without water supply.

The Irish water service had said that 40,000 customers were without water on Monday morning due to low reservoir levels.

It has since warned that "weather-related pipe bursts on the water network are likely to continue for the coming days".

ESB Networks, which runs the power grid, reports approximately 4,000 homes, farms and businesses are without supply.

They are mainly in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.

"We obviously appreciate that this is an incredibly difficult time for our customers, particularly in those worst-affected areas," ESB Networks regional manager Siobhan Wynn told RTÉ Radio.

"So in an effort to try and provide some support to them, we've made arrangements with local hotels where people can go to refresh and get a hot meal, recharge their mobile phones."

The National Emergency Co-ordination Group met on Wednesday morning to discuss the cross-department and agency response.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive has a free app and an online form which enables members of the public to alert them to any rough sleepers so that they can be offered a bed or other services.

National director of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management Keith Leonard said there had been "no let-up" in the bitterly cold weather.

"We are continuing to co-ordinate the responses by all agencies and local authorities to ensure the most appropriate responses and supports are happening at local level during these challenging conditions," he added.