Ice may cause further disruption as cold snap continues

A fresh weather warning for icy conditions in Northern Ireland has come into force as the cold snap continues to cause disruption.

More than 200 schools in Northern Ireland were closed on Tuesday and a number of Translink services were affected.

The police warned that some roads in County Fermanagh were "impassable due to treacherous icy conditions" including Moybrone Road, Letterbreen and Tiravally Road, and Florencecourt.

A yellow weather warning for ice ended at 10:00 GMT on Tuesday but a new one is in place from 18:00 until 11:00 on Wednesday.

A fresh dusting of snow can also be expected in some areas.

The Met Office has urged the public to take care on slippery footpaths and untreated roads.

Tuesday's school closures were mainly in the north east, north west and west of Northern Ireland.

Three schools in Northern Ireland are due to be closed on Wednesday.

Bin collections in various council areas have been disrupted by the weather.

In Derry and Strabane District Council all cemeteries remain closed on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

Recycling centres there have reopened, with the exception of Spamont and Park.

Sports pitches at Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council remain closed.

Donemana sheep farmer Matthew Craig said it had been difficult to get about to feed his animals in recent days.

"It's really been like an ice rink," he said.

Craig is also balancing childcare and farming as daughters Anna and Beth have been off school, while their mum has been working.

Brian Guthrie, the principal of Ebrington Primary School in Londonderry, had hoped to reopen on Tuesday but conditions did not allow it.

"I spent a good bit of time on site yesterday, clearing pathways and so on to make it safe but, unfortunately, as the day went on it seemed more and more schools were making a call to close," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

He said the Foyle Learning Community – a network of 13 schools, which includes Foyle College – made a decision to close, so he was left with no choice but to do the same.

"It isn't an easy decision and I know it has an impact on parents, the children and learning and apologies for that but it's really about making sure our school community is safe."

Emma Tsang has three children and lives in the Ballymoney area.

A number of local schools were closed, including those attended by her children, as well as their childcare facility.

Tsang said she respected the decision to close schools, as the safety of children and staff is paramount, but added it was "not ideal".

"It's a difficult situation for working parents to organise alternative childcare at short notice," she said.

St Brigid's Primary School in Tirkane in County Londonderry was among the closed schools.

Its principal Ursula O'Hanlon said the snow and ice had not thawed, adding that she could not expect parents to get children to school when buses were not servicing local roads.

"Nobody wants to be responsible for opening a school and hearing then that someone had an accident," she said.

Paddy Lavery, a principal engineer at the Department of Infrastructure, said there were more than 300 staff members working to keep the main roads open and safe.

Lavery said rural schools will always be a "difficulty" but there are special arrangements to treat some roads.

They follow a scoring mechanism to decide where resources will be deployed.

This includes assessing whether there has been a history of snow and ice around the school, if there is a bus with over 40 seats travelling to the school and the number of vehicles travelling to the school.

Lavery said there is an application process for rural roads to be treated, adding that over 50 schools are treated under special arrangements.

Hospital entrances are also treated under these arrangements.

Scarlett,10, Alesha, 6, and Dan, 8, were playing in the snow in Cullybackey.

"Well what I love about the snow is that I can get it and throw it at him [Dan]," Scarlett told BBC News NI.

She added that they had sleighs at their granny's house which is "the best thing".

Dan said he likes to throw snowballs at his sister and "push her down in the snow because I know she won't get hurt".

Their father, Steven, said the children are "having a lot of fun" but they do love school.

In County Down, the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team was deployed to help health workers and carers make essential calls to patients' homes.

Volunteers used 4x4 rescue vehicles to transport carers to houses that are difficult to reach in icy weather.

"A lot of the side roads and laneways and so on have become very treacherous," said Martin McMullan from the team.

"There's obviously a lot of people living in our community now, particularly in the rural community, with quite acute care needs - not just the elderly."

Northern Ireland's Commissioner for Older People, Siobhan Casey, called on people to check on elderly or vulnerable neighbours during the cold snap.

NI Water urged people to be careful around its outdoor sites, particularly reservoirs and dams, where winter conditions can create hazards.

Reservoir safety and compliance area manager Derek McKane said ice was "nearly always treacherous" and people should not attempt to walk or skate on iced-over reservoirs.

"Reservoirs are not safe places to play at any time of year, but winter brings extra dangers," he added.