‘Only when a storm has a colour warning will it deter us from using the BBQ’ – Meet Ireland’s year-round grilling fans who even barbecue their Christmas dinner

Throughout the summer months, the delicious aroma of sizzling sausages, grilled vegetables or a succulent piece of meat or fish is almost omnipresent as barbecues are fired up across the country. With the merest hint of sunshine, we are instantly ready, tongs in hand, to gather friends and grill in the open air. But, despite food tasting better outside, as soon as the kids go back to school, BBQs are generally banished to sheds and garages for the winter, or left languishing under a cover in the corner of a patio or balcony until the first rays of summer sun shine again.