Bus Eireann services grounded to a halt in cities and throughout the country. There were no services for most of the day between Dublin and Cork, Galway, Sligo, Westport and Belfast.
In Cork, Galway and Limerick, city bus services were also severely curtailed. Dublin, however, escaped largely unscathed with only two early-morning bus services cancelled.
All flights out of Galway, Sligo and Donegal airports were cancelled due to frozen runways. Kerry Airport in Farranfore was closed for a time, as was Cork, but both reopened in the afternoon.
Dublin, Shannon, Waterford and Knock airports remained open. However, passengers travelling to and from the UK suffered delays of up to three hours on flights because of snow warnings at British airports. Transatlantic flights were largely unaffected.
Tourist attractions such as Newgrange in Co Meath were closed, and many sporting and other public events were cancelled.
Because of poor road conditions in Cork, a concert of The Irish Tenors in Millstreet last night was cancelled. The 3,500 ticket-holders have been offered an alternative date on January 6th.
Yesterday's Ericsson Chase race meeting at Leopardstown was also cancelled and has been rescheduled for Sunday. A 7 a.m. track inspection will be made this morning to determine whether today's meeting can go ahead. If not, it may be rescheduled for tomorrow.
In rugby, tomorrow's AIB League Division One game between Ballymena and Young Munster has been cancelled.
Weblinks: Updated weather forecasts can be found at the Irish Times website www.ireland.com, while road information can be obtained from the AA at www.roadwatch.ie