Clare County Council has confirmed that all local authority services in County Clare will operate as normal tomorrow.
While Clare appears to have missed the worst of Storm Ophelia, fire crews from across the country continue to clear roads of fallen trees and utility poles.
The Emergency Helpline has been stood down due to a significant reduction in volume of calls received. However, Clare County Council’s out of hours emergency number (087-4169496) remains in place to deal with requests for assistance from the public in relation to fallen trees, blocked roads and other non-life threatening incidences.
Clare’s principal emergency response agencies will continue to monitor the situation this evening and overnight.
For further updates from County Clare see Twitter (@clarecoco) and Clare County Council’s weather emergency website (www.clarecoconotices.ie).
Meanwhile, Shannon Airport remained open throughout the day and experienced a number of flight cancellations and delays.
A spokeswoman for the airport said: “We are beginning to see a slow improvement in the weather conditions and are cautiously optimistic that the backlog of delayed flights will now begin to resume throughout the evening and tomorrow.
The Aer Lingus London Heathrow flight EI385 landed at Shannon at 4.13pm and a number of transatlantic services with Aer Lingus and Norwegian Air, delayed from earlier today, have been rescheduled for tonight.”
“Airlines will continue to advise passengers of schedule changes and we still advise intending passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport. We will continue monitoring the situation throughout the evening.
“Live flight information is available on www.shannonairport.ie or on the Shannon Airport App. We will continue to post updates on our social media channels (Twitter and Facebook) as we become aware of them but, again, we would encourage passengers to link with their airlines,” the spokeswoman said.
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There was a significant impact on the vast majority of health and social care services due to the adverse weather conditions today.
A spokesman said: “We can expect a gradual return to normal services over the next few days. Due to cancelled appointments over the past 24 hours and a subsequent “catch-up” period required, people can expect some delays in their appointments and discharges from hospitals over the next few days.
In the event of a cancellation, people will be contacted by the relevant service. The safety of patients and clients travelling at this time is paramount. In the event that patients or clients deem it unsafe to travel for an appointment, the service concerned will reschedule this appointment as quickly as possible.”
“Community services’ primary focus will be on dealing with the most vulnerable patients and clients in the first instance. This includes discharging elderly patients, whose discharge may have been delayed due to the weather, to the most appropriate facilities as quickly as possible.
Regarding Acute Hospital services, the intent is to restore all services over the coming days. It is anticipated that outpatient services will be fully provided tomorrow with a small number of exceptions, the HSE said.
Unfortunately, given the impact of the weather on the hospitals over the past number of hours it will be necessary to cancel some elective surgery tomorrow. Urgent procedures will be protected and these cases will be prioritised. Should any appointments be cancelled tomorrow, hospitals will be in contact with those affected,” the spokesman added.