Homeless teams say some people sleeping on the streets of Dublin are so cold they are lighting fires in alleyways.
Extra emergency beds are being made available to rough sleepers in Dublin during this week's cold snap.
A yellow warning for snow and ice is in place until Saturday, but could be upgraded or extended.
The Dublin Region Homeless Executive says, as a precaution, it's activated its Extreme Weather Protocol.
Its teams will spend the next few days encouraging those on the streets to take shelter.
Met Eireann is updating its weather alert daily.
At the moment, Dublin has escaped the worst of the snowfall.
Homeless
Despite teams encouraging rough sleepers to take shelter, Anthony Flynn from Inner City Helping Homeless says 86 people slept on the streets last night.
"There is many, many buildings that are empty around the city at the moment that could be opened up to people", he said.
He pointed out that during Storm Emma last year "we were able to put in contingency measures", which he said worked.
Chicago
Meanwhile, a serious cold spell is sweeping across the United States.
In Chicago, temperatures are expected to plummet to minus -25 degrees Celsius today.
That is one of the coldest temperatures on record for the city.
Experts say icy winds will make it feel more like -45 degrees Celsius.
