Gardai praised for ‘rolling up sleeves’ and helping…

Gardai praised for ‘rolling up sleeves’ and helping grit roads amid treacherous snow in Donegal

Gardai have been praised for “rolling up their sleeves” and helping local farmers grit roads amid heavy snowfall in Donegal.

Ireland is currently engulfed in an Arctic blast. Temperatures dropped to -7C in parts overnight, while wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow are forecast to fall Thursday.

Met Eireann has issued two Status Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice, saying: “Snow showers leading to some accumulations. Icy stretches too.”

One is currently in place for Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo, while another kicks in at 5.30pm and affects Cavan, Monaghan, Cork, Kerry, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Mayo and Roscommon. Both warnings expire at 9am on Wednesday.

One of the worst impacted counties is Donegal, where many schools in the county choose not to open today due to treacherous road conditions.

Overnight, traffic came to a standstill along the Cockhill Road in Buncrana and gardai worked with local farmers to grit the roads.

The Garda Siochana Donegal Facebook page shared a video of an officer standing on the back of a tractor, vigorously shovelling salt onto the road.

A spokesperson said: “Where there is a will there is a way! Traffic came to a stand still this evening in Buncrana due to the heavy snow showers.

“The traffic could not move along the Cockhill Road so gardai from the Roads policing Unit rolled their sleeves up and assisted local farmers in distributing salt along the roads to get the traffic moving again.

“Well done to all who gave up their time for the good of their community this evening!”

The video has racked up over 70,000 views with hundreds of people taking to the comments to praise gardai.

“Fair play to the gardai. A hot cuppa after that would go down well,” one person said.

Another added: “Great work. The road was treacherous and you rolled up the sleeves.”

Someone else wrote: “Credit where credit is due, well done, Garda Síochána Donegal and the wee tractor driver too.”

A fourth commented: “Brilliant...Well done to everyone involved.”

Others couldn’t help but remark on the Garda’s shovelling skills.

“That boy didn't come from the city anyway. He has the shovel skills of a country boy. Fair play,” one person joked.

Another remarked: “That Garda is a farmer's son I know by the way he handles the shovel. Well done lads.”