Aer Rianta expects a record number of passengers to pass through the three main Irish airports over the May bank holiday weekend - over 190,000 - from today until Monday. This would represent an 8 per cent increase on 1999.
More than 150,000 will pass through Dublin Airport over the weekend, a 7 per cent increase on last year. Cork is expected to handle 17,000 passengers, also 7 per cent up, and Shannon 24,000 passengers, up 9 per cent.
Tomorrow both Dublin Bus and Irish Rail are running special services to the Homelands concert at Mosney. Dublin Bus will operate from O'Connell Street between 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., with return journeys from 2 a.m. on Sunday.
Train tickets must be purchased in advance from the Irish Rail Travel Centre, 35 Lr Abbey Street, Dublin, at £13 return.
The return shuttle service from Mosney will begin at 1 a.m. on Sunday, with the last service departing at 3.30 a.m. Passengers not in possession of the special return rail ticket will not be permitted to travel to or from Mosney, Irish Rail warns.
The company expects to carry 175,000 passengers on Intercity trains over the holiday - with over 30 special trains running.
On Monday, a Sunday service will operate on the DART and on the Drogheda suburban routes. Suburban services to and from Kildare, Arklow and Maynooth will be cancelled. A Sunday service will also operate on the Cork-Cobh Arrow service.
The Dublin Bus Nitelink service will be extended to Sunday night.
Bus Eireann expects to carry up to 100,000 passengers on its Expressway and provincial routes between Friday and Tuesday(Fri) on all routes, with additional buses at all main Expressway departure points to cater for the greater numbers travelling.
Normal services, with additional buses as required, will also operate tomorrow.
The normal Sunday service will be in operation on country bus routes, but some evening services on Sunday which normally cater for returning weekend travellers will be cancelled.
On Monday, the bank holiday services generally will operate as on Sundays, according to Bus Eireann. There will be extra services to cater for people returning to the main centres on Monday evening. On the Dublin-Belfast route, services will operate as on weekdays.
Normal weekday bus services will resume on Tuesday with the following, which will operate as on Mondays: 5.45 a.m. Rosslare Harbour to Dublin; 6.15 a.m. Killarney-Limerick-Dublin; 6.10 a.m. Tralee-Killarney-Cork.