Ireland is freezing – but a White Christmas is still unlikely despite plummeting temperatures.

Arctic weather conditions are on the way to Ireland as the country prepares for another big freeze.

Temperatures dropped as low as 23 degrees Fahrenheit in the early hours of Monday morning with more bad weather on the way.

A cold snap has arrived from the north-east with Ireland’s weather service Met Eireann warning of severe conditions for the week ahead.

Ice and black ice will be a live danger all week but the threat of snow is only minimal due to the prevalent wind conditions.

Forecaster John Eagleton has predicted that temperatures will hit around 20 degrees all week and will struggle to get to mid thirties in daytime.

Eagleton said: “We think at this stage it will be generally dry. There is no indication on our models that snow will happen.

“There is no indication either on the forecast models for a prolonged cold snap in the run-up to Christmas as there was in 2009 and 2010.”