Cork City Council's operations team have commenced precautionary gritting across priority routes in Cork city centre and its suburbs as the cold snap sets in.

Salting and gritting of approximately 240 kilometres of priority public roads and pathways commenced last night and will continue throughout the week. 

Over 100 tonnes of salt will be distributed by Cork City Council crews over a nine hour period each night.

Cork City Council's operations team are braving the cold to grit Trinity Bridge by the College of Commerce🥶

❄️Cold weather is forecasted this week

🛻Our operations crews are gritting priority routes across Cork City Centre & suburbs: https://t.co/Px6dZRg6GC#StaySafe pic.twitter.com/aMrldYgOs3

— Cork City Council #StayHome #StaySafe (@corkcitycouncil) February 8, 2021

In a statement, Cork City Council urged motorists and pedestrians to exercise caution when travelling this week.

"If walking or driving within your 5 kilometres, never assume a route has been treated and exercise caution when travelling in freezing conditions.

"Cork City Council continues to keep the situation under review and advises the public to continue to monitor weather forecasts throughout the week," they said.

At the weekend, the Council moved to advise owners of vacant premises to shut off their water supplies as a precaution in case of frozen pipes. 

Property owners were also advised to ensure outside taps are insulated.

In a statement released by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage today, the Department said that a severe weather coordination meeting took place today to review the weather forecast for the coming days, including the potential impact of snow and provide all key stakeholders with this information directly to enable relevant preparations to take place.

The Department’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) Crisis Management Team has been meeting daily and working with Met Éireann, the Office of Public Works (OPW), local authorities and other Government departments and agencies since last Wednesday to monitor the forecasts and their predicted impacts.

A weather advisory is in place until Wednesday evening for cold conditions and wintry showers. 

A map of Cork City Council's salting route is available here.