As little as an inch of snow can cause much of the State to grind to a halt. At the very least, it means commuters are seriously inconvenienced and drivers spend much longer in rush-hour traffic.
Yet in countries which face six months of knee-deep snow each year, life goes on as normal. The problem here would appear to be a combination of infrastructural deficit and a certain culture shock in relation to snow, which Ireland just cannot seem to shake.
In Canada, motorists accept they will face several months of snow each year.
"It tends to snow at any time from Hallowe'en, or at least November, until about March and even sometimes up to Easter," said one Canadian national working at the country's embassy in Dublin.
"I think here it does have something to do with the infrastructure, but then it's not something you get very often. But if you had snow every winter you would be prepared," she added.
Ireland's local authorities were, perhaps, "caught on the hop" in the past few days, a spokesman for the Dublin Transportation Office suggested.
There were some complaints about slow progress in gritting some roads, which may have contributed to motorists' difficulties, he said.
The National Roads Authority implements a comprehensive system, called Icecast, used by local authorities to predict black ice so they can grit the roads.
But there may not be sufficient equipment to deal with a heavy snowfall, a spokesman admitted.
Snow-related traffic chaos is not helped by the general public, either. "When the weather turns bad, people tend to run for their cars because they don't want to stand at bus stops," the DTO spokesman said.
The people who take this frustrating option are also less well equipped to deal with snow than those in countries more used to it, said Mr Conor Faughnan of the AA.
Consequently, the "fear factor" makes them compensate with overcautious driving, which leads to even more rush-hour "fender-benders" than normal.
"More than anything, it's all down to a culture of unfamiliarity with these conditions. It's a dusting of snow, which other countries have routinely, and it doesn't knock them out of their stride," Mr Faughnan said.
Dublin Airport, through which about 10 million visitors pass each year, has also been paralysed by the snowfall.
Airports in countries which suffer much worse weather can still manage to operate a relatively normal schedule.
A Danish woman working here points out that her aircraft managed to take off in a blizzard on a visit home a month ago.
A spokeswoman for Aer Rianta said Dublin Airport did have the resources and the equipment to deal with snow, but she had never seen conditions as bad as they were yesterday.
"It was unbelievably blizzardy here, and I think it was worse because we are on such high ground. We had difficulties keeping the runways clear and it was hazardous for the snow ploughs," she said.
Other airports outside the State also faced problems with snow. "They don't remain operational all the time. We are not alone in this," the spokeswoman said.