Updated: 4.30pm
SEVERAL SHOPS ARE remaining closed today as Storm Ophelia hits Ireland.
Dunnes Stores has announced that all its shops in the Republic and Northern Ireland will be closed today.
Mandate Trade Union has said the following businesses will remain closed:
Ikea, Dubray Books and Flying Tiger have also decided to close their stores.
Dixons Carphone, Eason, Harvey Norman, Best Menswear, McCabes pharmacies, Supermac’s and Insomnia are all closed.
Bord Gáis has said its boiler service and repair activities are suspended for the day.
All Lidl stores across Ireland are now closed, as are the Happy Pear cafés.
An Aldi spokesperson told TheJournal.ie: “We have made the decision to close all our 129 Irish stores with immediate effect. We currently plan to open all stores as normal tomorrow. The health and safety of all our customers and store teams remains our priority.”
Tesco initially shut its stores in Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Clare and south Tipperary. Home deliveries were cancelled in those areas too.
Shortly before 2pm, Tesco announced it was closing all stores. In a statement, the company said: “We thank all our colleagues today who did their best to serve customers in the few hours this morning before the storm hit. We will reopen once it is safe to do so.
All colleagues who were due to work today but were unable to turn in due to difficulties travelling or for other reasons will be paid for today. We hope everyone stays safe today.
Dublin Zoo and the Guinness Storehouse are also remaining closed until tomorrow.
The Houses of the Oireachtas are closed too, as are all FLYEfit gyms and Peter Mark hair salons.
AIB has closed several branches – a full list of affected banks can be read here. Bank of Ireland is closing all branches in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
A number of cinemas have also been closed.
It’s not a great day for tourists either as Carrolls Irish Gifts have closed all shops in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Kilkenny.
Meanwhile, the Road Safety Authority has cancelled all driving tests today across the country. For further information, click here.
Forests
Coillte forests are closed to the public. In a statement, Coillte said: “Members of the public should not attempt to remove fallen trees or branches and are asked instead to contact emergency services in the event that access routes are blocked.”
Mick Power, the organisation’s National Estate Risk Manager, said: “We have received reports of people in our forests and cannot stress enough how dangerous it is for anyone to enter a forest with Storm Ophelia moving through the country. Public access to forest is strictly prohibited. We continue to ask the public to be vigilant for fallen trees and report them to emergency services or Coillte.
Dealing with fallen trees is extremely dangerous and the public are urged to stay away from any fallen trees or debris. Only trained experts should engage in tree clearance activities. Any roads or access routes that are blocked by fallen trees should be reported to emergency services or directly to Coillte at the following details: Michael Power – 086 253 2262 or michael.power@coillte.ie.
All Coillte recreation facilities will remain closed today and no public access is permitted to any Coillte forests until further notice.
Stocking up
There were large queues in a number of supermarkets today and yesterday as people stocked up on food ahead of the storm.
https://www.facebook.com/daveogorman/videos/10211889196360153/
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Met Éireann has issued a status red weather warning for Ireland, saying Storm Ophelia is likely to be the most severe weather event to hit the country in over 50 years.
The National Hurricane Center in the US has said that counties Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal will be the worst affected.
Gardaí have urged all motorists and the public not to make any non-essential journeys. They advise people not to cycle whatsoever.
All schools and colleges across the country are closed, and the HSE has cancelled all hospital outpatient appointments which were due to take place today.
This article will be updated as more businesses announce closures.
With reporting by Hayley Halpin
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