A snow and ice warning has been issued for the whole country by Met Éireann.
The yellow weather warning comes into place on Thursday from 5pm and will last until 11am on Friday morning.
After an exceptionally mild New Year, temperatures are set to fall notably over the coming days.
There will be scattered showers of hail, sleet and snow, and icy stretches starting on Thursday evening into Friday morning which will lead to hazardous travelling conditions in some parts.
Showers will be most widespread in the west and north of the country where some accumulations are likely. Isolated thunderstorms will occur also.
A similar warning is in place for all the counties of Northern Ireland with the exception of Co Down.
Temperatures will fall to below freezing on Wednesday night and there will be falls of sleet and snow in parts of Ulster.
Cold air pushing in from the Atlantic on Thursday morning will see falls of sleet or snow occurring in some areas by evening, mainly across the western half of the country.
Thursday night will be cold and blustery with widespread showers mainly falling as sleet or snow and they could fall anywhere.
Temperatures look like they will return to normal on Friday and into the weekend.