A "spectacular party" has been planned for tomorrow night's closing ceremony of the 2003 Special Olympics World Games, according to organisers. Alison Healy reports.
Westlife, Blue, Busted and Liberty X will be joined by Mickey Harte and Simon Casey of You're a Star fame at the Croke Park event.
The ceremony will be compered by Ian Dempsey of Today FM, Nicky Byrne of Westlife and the motor racing driver and TV presenter, Sarah Kavanagh.
While tickets cost €30 each, free tickets have been offered to all 30,000 volunteers who worked on the World Games. Some 75,000 spectators and athletes will attend the event, which was sold out for the second time yesterday.
"It will be very spectacular but it will be a different kind of event to the opening ceremony," said Julian Davis, media relations director for the Games.
"It will be quite emotional for the athletes and the volunteers. Some volunteers have been working together for up to four years now."
The formalities will include the lowering of the Special Olympics flag. A torch will be lit from the Flame of Hope and taken out of the stadium and the flame will then be quenched.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, will present replica flags to the organisers of the 2005 World Winter Games in Nagano, Japan and the 2007 World Summer Games in Shanghai.
The Gaiety School of Acting will stage a music and dance performance with a hurling theme.This will be introduced by Kilkenny hurler, D.J. Carey.
The Games will be officially closed by the President, Mrs McAleese. The ceremony, which will be transmitted on 2FM, begins at 7 p.m. but organisers have asked people to come earlier to welcome the athletes as they take their seats on the pitch from 5.30 p.m. onwards. The show will end at about 10.15 p.m.
There are no Nite Link buses on Sundays, but Dublin Bus services leaving from the city centre or passing through the city centre will be extended until 12.30 a.m.
The last DART to Howth leaves Connolly Station at 11.32 p.m while the last Malahide-bound DART leaves at 11.07 p.m. The last southbound DART leaves Connolly Station for Bray at 11.38 p.m. An extra DART service will leave Howth at 11.30 p.m, serving all stations to Bray with the exception of Tara Street and Grand Canal Dock.
An extra service from Connolly Station to Maynooth will leave at 11.30 p.m. but will not serve Broombridge or Ashtown. The last train to Drogheda will leave Connolly at 11.20 p.m.
A large Garda cordon will cover the area around Croke Park while Mountjoy Square will be closed to public parking tomorrow evening. Parking restrictions will operate in areas such as Drumcondra Road Lower and Ballybough Road. The Special Events Office at Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station 01 6668400, is providing a parking facility for drivers with disabilities, while an access pass will allow people with disabilities to be dropped inside the Garda cordon.