The arctic weather conditions of the past few days will not last beyond today, Met Eireann has said. However, Ulster will experience snow and sleet on high ground before milder conditions arrive, a spokeswoman warned. Temperatures in Dublin yesterday fell to 7C and in Kilkenny to 11C.
The Eireann spokeswoman said the calm, cold conditions of the past few days would give way to windier weather as the normal Atlantic fronts again dictate the weather patterns.
The icy weather claimed the life of one man in Co Limerick. In Cork, the severe weather conditions throughout the county resulted in 20 people being hospitalised in the past 24 hours as treacherous road conditions made driving very difficult.
More than 11 accidents were reported by the gardai and in two of them eight people had to be cut from cars which skidded on black ice.
Roads in Cork city remained dangerous until well into the afternoon.
For this morning, the advice was that most roads would be hazardous once again and drivers should take special care and drive at lower speeds.
In Limerick, a man was killed when the car in which he was a passenger skidded on ice on Sunday night.
He was named as Mr Michael Boyce (57), a veterinary surgeon from Broadford, Co Limerick. He was well known in greyhound circles. The accident happened two miles from the village of Broadford, on the Newcastle West road.
Flights from the US to Shannon Airport yesterday were diverted to Dublin because of frost and freezing fog.
It was one of the coldest nights this winter in the mid-west. The region has been blanketed in fog and frost for the past two days.
Motorists in the midlands appeared to have heeded the warnings and refrained from taking unnecessary journeys, because traffic was light throughout the region.
There was, however, a crash between two cars on the Granard/ Edgeworthstown road caused by icy conditions. Neither driver was seriously injured.
In Kerry, a woman was removed to Tralee General Hospital following an accident on the Tarbert to Ballylongford road on Sunday afternoon. Donegal endured the weekend's conditions relatively unscathed as most motorists stayed at home and only minor accidents, without injury, were reported.
The weather station at Malin Head recorded 1C as its lowest temperature in the early hours of Monday morning. But the county's new ice alert system ensured all major roads were gritted in good time.
The occupants of a house in Galway city centre had a lucky escape when two lorries crashed into the front of their home during hazardous driving conditions early yesterday morning.
All roads in Waterford city and county were passable with extreme care throughout yesterday.