Updated at 4.25pm
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A NUMBER OF businesses have closed completely or are adjusting their opening hours today and tomorrow as the bad weather worsens.
People across the nation have been advised to remain indoors from 4pm today as blizzard-like conditions are set to hit the country.
The warning will remain in place until 3pm tomorrow. Now that advice has come into effect. Most retail outlets have pulled down their shutters.
Cork and Dublin Airports have shut while Ireland West Airport in Knock will close tomorrow.
Supermarkets
As a result of the bad weather, Lidl has decided to close all its stores from 3pm today until tomorrow afternoon.
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Ikea‘s store in Ballymun and its collection Point in Carrickmines, both in Dublin, will remain closed until further notice. The store apologised for any inconvenience caused to customers.
Arnotts Department Store on Henry Street in Dublin city centre will also be closed today, the company said in a statement, adding: “The safety of our team members and customers is our priority at this time.”
All Dublin City Council public offices closed at 3pm yesterday – this includes all parks, leisure centres, libraries and bring centres. The council has apologised for any inconvenience caused. It is unclear when the facilities will reopen.
Tesco Ireland said it would have limited opening hours over the coming days due to the extreme weather conditions. They are:
Christine Heffernan, Corporate Affairs Director of Tesco Ireland, said: “We are closing all stores today at 2pm in line with the guidance from the government to ensure that all of our colleagues have time to get home safely.”
All Tesco store carparks are due to be gritted this evening.
Dunnes Stores said all stores will be closed today. It said most stores will not reopen until 1pm tomorrow, however, this is “subject to weather improvement”.
The following Dunnes Stores outlets in Dublin will not open tomorrow:
Peter Mark has said that all salons across the country will be closed today.
An update on whether the salons will open tomorrow will be provided later.
“In the interest of the safety of our clients and our teams, all Peter Marks salons will be closed today due to adverse weather conditions,” a statement from the company said.
Postal services and banks
An Post services have also been affected by the bad weather. Letter and parcel services within all counties affected by the status red warning are suspended until further notice.
Where weather conditions and public transport allow, post offices will open this morning, An Post has said.
All post offices will close at 1pm and will remain closed tomorrow until further notice.
An Post said: “Advice regarding post office services will be updated in due course with due regard for staff safety and the advice provided by the National Emergency Coordination Group.”
Ulster Bank has said this evening that to ensure the safety of all its staff and customers, all of its branches and mobile branch services across the country will be closed today and tomorrow.
Other services such as Telephony, online banking and our app are available as normal.
Bank of Ireland branches and contact centres will not open today or tomorrow. Online banking services are operating as normal.
Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse stores across the country will close from 2pm today, with most outlets already closed.
Brown Thomas in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway and BT2 in Dundrum and Blanchardstown are all closed today.
With reporting by Hayley Halpin
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