The west will have the finest of the weather this weekend, but today will be the best day of the Easter holiday all over the country.
As most places will have mild temperatures of 14 to 17 degrees today and be dry, Met Éireann advised those on their Easter break to make the most of it, as cooler and wetter weather is on the way.
Pat Clarke of Met Éireann said yesterday: "The weather in the west will be the best and people should make the most of Saturday's warm weather everywhere as it will be cooler for the rest of the weekend."
There will be bright or sunny spells today. Temperatures will be highest in the west, but could be mild at 14 to 15 degrees elsewhere. It could be cooler in the south if fog drifts in from the sea.
Mr Clarke said the biggest change on Sunday and Monday would be the drop in temperature to between 10 and 13 degrees. Rain is expected on Sunday night, spreading from the south. Rain will be widespread on Monday.
Thousands of people, however, are avoiding the Irish weather and heading off to the popular sunspots. Almost 250,000 passengers are expected to pass through Dublin airport over the holiday period.
More than 1,800 flights will arrive and depart during this time, including 150 charters to resorts. The most popular sun destinations over the Easter period are Las Palmas, Lanzarote, Tenerife and mainland Spain.
A spokesman at Cork airport said 33,000 people would be travelling through the airport. At Shannon, a spokeswoman said there would be 30,000 going through which was an increase of 25 per cent on last year.
Up to 300,000 passengers will travel by rail over the weekend, but Iarnród Éireann advised that Dart and commuter services would be disrupted until Easter Monday due to Dart upgrade works.
There will be no services between Dublin and Belfast on the Belfast Enterprise. The service will be replaced by bus.
There will also be no Dart services between Pearse station and Howth/Malahide stations and Sligo intercity services will operate between Sligo and Maynooth only.
Bus Éireann expects to carry up to 200,000 passengers on Expressway and provincial bus services over the holiday period.
There will be some alterations to the normal timetables during the holiday period and passengers are advised to check before leaving home.
AA Roadwatch reported very heavy traffic yesterday afternoon on all main routes out of Dublin as people headed away for the weekend.
Traffic was congested on the N7 southbound from Citywest to Johnstown and westbound on the N4 Maynooth bypass. There were delays of up to 30 minutes heading into Ennis because of the World Irish Dancing Championships which continue until tomorrow.