Councillor calls for urgent repairs to Wicklow road as forecast emerges for cold week ahead
A Wicklow councillor has said the M11 south of Dublin needs to be upgraded after two closures already this year due to flooding.
Greystones councillor Derek Mitchell said some people were stuck in their cars for up to four hours yesterday trying to get in or out of Wicklow.
He said the M11 urgently needed improvement works at Fassaroe Bridge near Bray because there was no alternative roadway in the area.
He said parts of Wicklow were cut off by both road and rail yesterday. The motorway and the DART service for north Wicklow were both cut off.
"The combination of the two was the problem," said cllr Mitchell. "You're always going to get flooding problems when you get such severe rain, but you shouldn’t have the road and DART out at once.
"What we need is for the National Transport Authority to take the issue seriously, to look and see what they can do to improve the road."
Meanwhile, Met Éireann has said the cold snap will continue right up to Easter, with more snow forecast over the next 24 hours as far south as Dublin.
Up to 10 centimetres of snow is expected tonight in east Ulster and north Leinster.
Elsewhere, a landslide has closed part of the M1 northbound at Junction 20 Jonesborough and there are reports of flooding in Enniskerry.
Some 35,000 homes and businesses are still without power in the north after heavy snowfall.
Met Éireann forecaster Deirdre Lowe said it would stay cold for at least the next week.
"It may perhaps be a little less cold as we come into the Easter weekend," she said.
"It's certainly unseasonably cold, but we're stuck with the easterly winds bringing in the cold continental air and the wintry showers.
"Unfortunately we're stuck with that for the coming week."
