AS YOU’LL NO doubt be aware, a raft of Easter Rising centenary events are taking place this weekend.
The actual day of the start of the rebellion was on 24 April in 1916 – however, most of the official ceremonies and parades are taking place over Easter.
These are the main events taking place between today and Monday:
Gardaí are planning for an attendance of 500,000 people on both Sunday and Monday – so crowds on a scale similar to St Patrick’s Day. Today should be quieter.
People are being urged to use public transport where possible if heading into the city centre this weekend. That said there will be changes to arrangements for buses, trains and taxis. You’ll find a run-down of the full changes to public transport here and don’t forget a Luas strike takes place on Sunday and Monday, affecting all tram services.
The main Sunday Parade begins at 10am at Stephen’s Green, proceeds to the GPO and then ends at Bolton Street at around 3pm (see route map below).
We can’t stress this enough – expect significant road closures tomorrow all around the north and south city centre from the Royal Canal to the Grand Canal. If you’re not planning on visiting the city, avoid the general area.
Extra DARTs are running, five times an hour, at maximum train length in advance of the parade, between 8.30am and 10.30am. Heading in the other direction, there’ll be extra DARTs heading out of town from 2.30pm.
Commuter services are also being increased along a similar pattern. Intercity trains are being increased to maximum size.
More: Irish Rail >
A full strike takes place on Sunday and Monday, although the service will be running today.
The announcement, on Thursday evening, followed the rejection by workers of Workplace Relations Commission proposals aimed at resolving the long-running dispute at the Dublin tram service.
Transdev, which runs the Luas, has said it will not be bringing in buses to cover the routes.
More: Luas >
What about buses?
O’Connell Street’s closed off today, so many north city Dublin Bus routes are operating via Parnell Street, Gardiner Street and surrounding areas instead.
More significant street closures are planned for Sunday, so as a result ten temporary termini will be set up around the city (see map at top of this article). On Monday, we’re back to just O’Connell Street being closed off.
Bus Éireann is running a significantly enhanced timetable tomorrow as the main celebrations take place, while a small number of termini are being relocated. A Saturday timetable will run on Bank Holiday Monday.
More: Bus Éireann >
And taxis?
You won’t be able to get that close to the city centre at all in a taxi on Sunday as a result of the road closures.
Coming from the Northside, taxis will be stopped at the Five Lamps; from the west at Heuston Station; and from the southside, at the Grand Canal.
The situation will be back to normal for the city on Monday, but the taxi rank on O’Connell Street will stay closed until the following day.
More: Transport for Ireland >
What if I want to bring the car?
Avoid it like the plague – particularly tomorrow.
“Public transport is strongly advised,” the official advice says. Details of car parks can be found on Parkopedia. The following car parks, however, will be closed to the public on the day: Arnotts; Q- Park Clerys Marlborough Street; Irish Life Abbey Street; Parkrite IFSC; Euro Car Parks Convention Centre; and Euro Car Parks Point Village.
More: Parkopedia >
And is everything open to the public?
Some of the events this weekend are open to the public, others are open but of limited capacity due to the size of the venue, some – like the Imagining Home concerts – are ticketed, and others – like the event for relatives – are invite-only. (Full details here).
6,000 places around Middle and Lower O’Connell Street have been reserved for invited guests during tomorrow’s parade – including some 5,000 relatives.
Any final advice for a hassle-free day?
You can soak up the atmosphere while watching a relay of the parade events on big screens at the following locations tomorrow:
For an extremely hassle-free day tomorrow, you can simply watch the parade on TV (Brian Dobson and co will be on duty on RTÉ One from 9.30am) and keep up to date with our coverage here at TheJournal.ie.
You’ll find full details on all the events this weekend in this post.
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