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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/
Can’t watch the video? Click here.
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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Fair play. Hopefully employees of the others get home safe and we are not saying why didn’t you close your doors too.
@Jason L. Reid : true Aldi supervalue and Lidl and the rest should show a little more concern for their staff
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: supervalu all closed..
@Christine Hanway: no they’re not. I’m still working. Shop is jammed
@Yorkie1892: Supervalu close, that’s a funny idea. Worked there for a few years, they didn’t even close for the funeral when an employee died.
@Christine Hanway: supervalue packed. Definitely not all closed.
@Aaron O’Leary: Every safety authority in the country: “Don’t make unnecessary journies” Other people: “Sure, ill just head down to the old shops to getta slice of the old dennys finest ham”
@HMcN: apologies just the one in ballymun has closed thought it was all..
@Christine Hanway: The one in ballymun is one of the good ones it seems
@Christine Hanway: no they’re not. Had to bring my wife to work this morning
@Séa Graham: Tesco still open, what a surprise…..
ALL employees who dont need to be working, should be at home.. Profit grabbing greedy companies should be ashamed of themselves demanding employees to show up
@Patrick McGarry: “Profit grabbing greedy companies” are the blood of our economy, would you like to turn Ireland in next North Korea or Venezuela ?
@cortisola: ah yes, because there’s no room on the spectrum between being profit obsessed to the point of risking death and a dictatorship like North Korea.
@cortisola: yes if it saves lives.
@cortisola: Safety takes precedence over profit.
@cortisola: Hey, leave Bray out of it! :D
Was in Aldi at 9:15am. Asked the eastern European guy at the checkout if they were closing for the storm. He replied, with a conviction hewn from granite, “We open through earthquake”.
Love it!
Yorkie, your shop is jammed and you are texting.
Go do a bit of work
@Benjamin Dolan: I would say all shops will be jammed today. All these people having day off and glorious weather we have, best Christmas Shopping time ever.
@cortisola: have a break you know?
@Yorkie1892: I had a break in 2010
A storm I’m looking out my window sun is trying to get out a little bit of rain on the ground. off work and my kids out of school. I have seeing worse days than this. Heading the park for a couple of hours. . what A joke.
@Sinead jane: calm before the storm
@Sinead jane:
Ffs! Do you not realize we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. When the eye passes it will get worse.
Yes we could have dropped kids to school, but collecting them would be something else entirely especially where I live… worse winds between 11am and 6pm…
@Sinead jane: Sure ya are :)
Oh I’m sorry, were you looking for a different reaction?
@Sinead jane: thinking like that is why people like you will get caught out in it and put emergency services in danger having to rescue you! Get a grip!
@Sinead jane: have to laugh at people who think they know better than the experts.
@Niamh Lynch: Wind is getting up in south Dublin in the last few minutes but read that many roads in Cork are closed with fallen trees and wires down, stay safe folks.
Ah Lads! You’re giving “her” what she wanted, best to not humour the troll.
@Sinead jane: troll much?
@Sinead jane: Obviously hasn’t kicked in yet u Muppet.
@Sinead jane: what a stupid and dangerous comment…..ridiculous
@Sinead jane: The only joke here is you.
@Sinead jane: someone has already been killed! The storm hasn’t even hit us yet. Just way until 2pm. And you are more worried about the kids being off.
@Sinead jane: did you practice it we’re you born ignorant you probably haven’t seen the worst yet but willing to risk your kids lives in a park
@Sinead jane: totally agree much ado about a storm, that’s not to say I don’t feel sorry for those who have lost their lives and their families, but I was sent home from work at 11.30, almost feel guilty, I appreciate that parts of the country are much worse than others, but in Dublin it’s a joke.
Dunnes will dock their staff a days pay next week.
@Abe Brennan: no they just confirmed all staff rostered today will be paid
@Abe Brennan: Don’t be so quick to judge
LEINSTER HSE CLOSED
STRANDED TD’s ADVISED TO ASSEMBLE IN THE BAR
Of course my local SuperValu where I work is open.
@Ariana: It may be extremely busy shopping today, with all people having day off and Christmas just few weeks ahead.
Oh yeah, it was such a struggle to move around this morning in Dublin, with those 8 kph winds.
Those unions and public sector workers are some chancers.
@Fred Jetson: You are a moron…..
@Fred Jetson: You realise the hurricane is due to start whole they’re at work, and the commute home may be a disaster?
@Neal Ireland Hello.:
Disaster how? The winds in Dublin will be only 20-30% faster than what is normal for this time of year. I don’t envison any buses toppling over.
@Fred Jetson: Well they can’t really topple over if they are not running now, can they?
“Services will be withdrawn at 10am. We hope to return services from 7pm or when we can safely operate our services. However, customers should be aware that services may experience delays and disruptions to service and service levels will be dependent on weather conditions.”
@Fred Jetson: right now I wouldn’t even be calling this a storm at all .. there’s only a bit of wind where I am and I wouldn’t call it a strong wind either ..
@Fred Jetson: fair play to you. You have a expert knowledge in how hurricanes operate. We better not listen to Met Eireann as they haven’t a clue.
THE STORM IS HEADDING YOUR WAY.
any word on Lidl?
@María Eugenia Baiardi: open in most parts
@María Eugenia Baiardi: Lidl is here to earn money not to fancy themselves.
@María Eugenia Baiardi: open this morning in Tullamore
@cortisola: Exactly, money grabbers but they finally saw sense and closed.
@María Eugenia Baiardi: all stores now shut
Super Valu is so closed they had to list it twice. It’s never been so closed before.
I’m doing a special deal on kites if anyone is interested!
What about Tesco
@Garrett Colreavy: closed
A day for the high stool. I the pubs don’t close.
Is Croke Park open for GAA tours?
Happy Pear. I’ve never heard of them, how much did the Journal get to say that they were closed.
Supervalu Hueston has closed early and so has Supervalu in Finglas.
@Sinead Lynch: In the interest of the health and safety of our colleagues and our customers, we have made the decision to close our store from 11am on Monday 16th October, to allow time for our colleagues to make their way home before the impact of Ophelia hits Dublin. A lot of Supervalu’s have shut since 11am and the rest shut at noon.
@Sinead Lynch: closed since half ten here in Wexford. The one on the quay,not sure about the one in St Aidens.
No they are not l, most are open.
Boots opened their shops which shows how little they care for their staff. I’ll never darken their door again.
Just called in to tesco in roselawn, they just announced they’re closing for the day.
Firehouse Pizza stores are closed
@Stephen O’Brien: Nooooooooo I want Pizza
Less of the tinker pal,,,yes we can read and write? We’re travelling people. By the way them pillows are fake lol.
What about Dealz? I want me cheap pillows!
@Benny McHale: Well done that man!
@Garrett Colreavy: Does anyone one know if TESCO will open today (Tuesday). Please
Does anyone know or have any news about TESCO STORES opening today (Tuesday). Pleaseeeeee!
have your say