Heavy snow destroys tunnel at snail farm

A SNAIL farm in Ballinaclash is one of many businesses around the county assessing the damage caused by Storm Emma.

Helix Hibernia Snail Farm has been in operation since 2015 and has been rapidly growing ever since.

The farm operates two tunnels for the snails, one to rear them and the other to breed them. Heavy snowfall caused one of the tunnels to collapse on Friday.

Gerry Fitzgerald, who runs the farm with his son Ciaran, said: ‘We got a lot of snow in the area and the weight of the snow broke some really thick bars and resulted in the collapse of a tunnel. There were no snails in the tunnel at the time so we haven’t lost any stock. We are still trying to assess the damage but there is still a lot of snow in the area which is making things difficult. It’s far from ideal but we are still trying to assess the cost of the damage and then we will see where we go from there.’ ABOVE: Stephanie Byrne and Damien Cullen with Fr Murtagh. RIGHT: Stephanie travelling to the church by tractor after the heavy snow on Thursday night. get everyone in, we were so lucky to have such great help and support. The silver lining was that our photographer John Jordan got some amazing snow shots of our wedding and that was very special. Everyone went above and beyond to make sure the day happened including Michael Flood who looked after the music and our family members who put on their wellies and got there in the end.’

Stephanie and Damien are now enjoying a warm and relaxing honeymoon in Dubai without a flake of snow to be seen, and are looking forward to their wedding reception which will now take place on March 16.