A chilly Christmas morning didn’t stop some volunteers and bathers from taking part in festive traditions across the country.
Hardy sea swimmers, in reduced numbers due to the pandemic, braced bitingly cold Atlantic and Irish Sea waters for the usual Christmas Day dip.
Clothing was shed, Santa hats and reindeer antlers stayed on for an exhilarating start to the day with average sea temperatures just 6C to 10C.
Kathleen Monteverde, swimming near Donaghadee, Co Down, said: “I started in February and am aiming to get the whole year for the first time.
“It definitely wakes you up and gets you ready for the day because Christmas can be very stressful – it is so busy. It is great, you just get grounded and ready for the day.”
Sea swimmers were asked to forego their annual Christmas Day swim at the 40 Foot in Sandycove, South Dublin, due to concerns over large gatherings.. Patrick Corkery, Sophie Alisson and Rachel Hickey were just some of the brave people who enjoyed the cold dip.
Meanwhile, Trojan efforts were under way to feed the less fortunate.
The RDS was used as a distribution hub, staffed by volunteers who handed out around 3,000 Christmas hampers for a raft of charities.
Covid-19 also forced the cancellation of a traditional Christmas sit-down meal for the homeless in Cork.
Volunteers from the Penny Dinners charity were on the road until 4am on Christmas Day delivering the last of 10,000 hampers.
Caitriona Twomey from Penny Dinners said there is a “lot of despair” and earlier this month seven service users had died in Cork in one week.
But she added: “The goodness on one side is much bigger than the sadness on the other.”
