A member of staff at the Blanchardstown ice rink had said she and her colleagues were “just so relieved no one was hurt” during Storm Éowyn.
The Dublin ice rink had its roof completely ripped off during the Red Weather Warning and will be closed for some time while repairs take place.
On Lunchtime Live, Louise Cremins described herself as “quite shocked” when she saw the scale of destruction at her workplace.
“We’re just so relieved that no one was hurt - that’s the main priority,” she said.
“We’ve been here for 10-years and we’ve never even had anything close to this.
“We’ve been through a lot of different storms - including red warnings.
“Our marquees are constructed by experts in the industry and they’re very, very durable."
I urge everyone to stay safe and stay home as the impact of Storm Éowyn is felt right across Ireland. This is a historic storm. (1/2)
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) January 24, 2025
The ice skating season was due to come to a close this Sunday but Ms Cremins said staff are “all so sad” they will miss out on their last few days working together.
“I suppose they were really looking forward to the last weekend,” she said.
“We’ve got a great staff who love working there and they’re all disappointed not to have that last weekend working together.”
14 crews in total are out clearing storm damage and will work until daylight ends. Biggest issue they are facing is that there is a lot of trees which have not fallen but are dangerous and will have to be removed. When they go out to remove a tree they are discovering more which… pic.twitter.com/678BAyRhgD
— Fingal County Council (@Fingalcoco) January 24, 2025
Instead, focus will now turn to how to clean up the damage from Storm Éowyn.
“We’ve got an amazing crew who we’ve worked with for a really long time,” she said.
“We’re just making a plan to make the structure safe and make sure we can salvage what we can salvage.”
ESB has said over 700,000 homes and businesses in Ireland are without power and that it could take “over a week” to reconnect them all.
Main image: Ice skating rink.
