UPDATE: Ireland braced for 'bitterly cold' day as 41k without power and 40k without water

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are without power and water this morning as Ireland continues to feel the full effects of the cold snap.

The country is currently under a status yellow low temperature/ice warning until midday on Thursday after Met Éireann extended the warning on Sunday afternoon.

Schools and childcare facilities in parts of Carlow and Kilkenny are to remain closed, with schools in other parts of the country closing on an individual basis also. 

As of Monday morning, approximately 41,000 homes, farms and businesses are without power, predominantly in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow, Laois and Wicklow, ESB Networks have confirmed.

Crews and partner contractors are working hard to restore electricity this morning, but ESB did confirm in there Sunday evening update that "from our experience of previous significant weather events, we expect that power restoration in the worst affected areas will take multiple days. The freezing temperatures and hazardous conditions are slowing restoration efforts."

Meanwhile, a further 40,000 people, predominantly in Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Kerry, are without warning this morning with "freezing weather conditions, coupled with rain or snow, impacting efforts and leading to delays in repairing leaks," according to an update from Usice Eireann. 

Met Éireann is predicting a "bitterly cold" day today with widespread frost and lying snow. There'll be sunshine and scattered showers of rain, hail, sleet and snow. Top temperatures generally ranging from 1 to 5 degrees but staying below freezing over snow-fields. Northwesterly winds will increase moderate to fresh and gusty, stronger for a time in Atlantic areas.

Tonight will see clear spells and scattered sleet and snow showers, the showers most frequent in the west and north, with widespread frost and ice with lowest temperatures of -5 to 0 degrees in moderate west to northwest winds.