Trinity is to reopen on Tuesday, October 17, after College was closed today due to Hurricane Ophelia. The Department of Education and Skills left the decision to open tomorrow at the discretion of each institution. Trinity tweeted that normal college activities would resume as normal just after 8pm.
An email was sent to staff and students of College at 2:50pm that Estates and Facilities would assess the safety of the campus after the storm, and that an email would be sent out before 9pm this evening to notify whether College would be open tomorrow.
At 6pm, the National College of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) sent an email to staff and students saying they would reopen on Tuesday, while Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) announced at 7.15pm that the college would be open tomorrow. At 5:30pm, University College Dublin Students’ Union (UCDSU) stated through a facebook post that the university would reopen tomorrow, unless “further notice” is given. The union followed this by saying: “Do not travel to Dublin unless it is safe to do so.”
By 6:15pm on their website, National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM) cancelled all lectures tomorrow due to a “disruption to public transport”. The university said that the college had not been “badly damaged”, and that it would be “open for staff as normal” tomorrow. Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) and University of Limerick will be open tomorrow.
Before 4pm, the Department announced that schools across the country would be closed again on Tuesday, with the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton saying on Twitter: “Following careful consideration by the National Emergency Coordination Group, the Department of Education and Skills, has decided that all schools will remain closed tomorrow.”
Shortly after an announcement by the Department of Education and Skills that all schools and third level institutions would be closed on Monday, Trinity confirmed the closure of the campus via their Twitter account. College’s secretary, John O’Gorman, later sent an email to staff and students to notify them of this, saying: “All students and staff are urged to stay away from the university unless they have an urgent reason to attend,” and urged residents and “anybody else” entering the campus to take “extreme care”.
Later on Sunday night, College mentioned students in health sciences on elective clinical placements in particular, advising them to stay at home on Monday, but added: “Those who are employed in a pre-registration capacity (and not students) should present for duty as normal or should make contact with their hospital.”
3 people have died so far due to Hurricane Ophelia, with gusts of speeds up to 150 km per hour across the country. More than 360,000 homes and businesses were out of power by 4pm across Ireland. Bus Éireann had cancelled services from the mid morning onwards, with Dublin Bus, Luas and Dart services also suspended. Transport services are to resume on Tuesday morning. The weather warning is to be lifted by 1am on Tuesday.