OPINION: What a pain in the 'slush' snow is - Ireland just isn't able to deal with it!

Snowfall in Ireland is a rare sight that gets everyone excited for an hour till the fun wears off, and it's less about snowball fights and snowmen and more about school closures and lethal roads.

Every time we get snow we seem more unprepared than the last time we got it.

What starts as gorgeous fluffy white snow takes no more than 48 hours to turn into wet, dirty slush that not only leaves people miserable but also shuts down the whole country. Less of a Christmassy postcard and more of an annoying eyesore.

The roads become ice rinks, and without the proper infrastructure to deal with them, the country is at a standstill, and it almost becomes a full-blown crisis even at the lightest of dustings.

It takes a couple of days before the salt and grit is on the roads with main roads becoming dangerous, not to mention country roads that the Irish people rely on for their daily commutes.

God forbid if you walk to work or rely on public transport. Some countries can thrive under twice as much snow as we have seen in the past week, but we are simply unequipped to deal with it.

Public transport across Ireland is dodgy at the best of times, you almost take a chance if you're going to be on time for an appointment or work, but in this weather, you would be lucky to even see a bus or train operate.

There is no in-between in the snow culture in Ireland. It is either the end of the world, and we're going to be trapped inside forever, or it's grand, and people fly around the roads like a normal day, underestimating the danger of ill-prepared roads for driving. 

But the one thing that annoys me more than anything is the chaos at shops at the single sight of a snowflake. People panic buying enough bread and milk like the world is going to end or something.

Shelves in supermarkets are being emptied to the point where you can't even get what you need for the day, never mind for a weekly shop. It is almost a little nod back to COVID times when you couldn't even buy a roll of toilet paper.

At the end of the day, it is fun, and I did build a snowman and chuck a few snowballs about, but the nuisance it has caused for the last week is why snow in Ireland irks me.