With so much going on in Dublin this June Bank Holiday weekend half of the city will be closed to traffic, but why and for how long?
So I hear there will be some traffic restrictions this weekend. Why?
This weekend, the June Bank Holiday, will see three major events taking place in Dublin City all at the same time, so there will be a lot of extra people expected to turn up in the capital – a lot more than we’re used to anyway.
Usually Dublin is a ghost town over the June Bank Holiday as all the city slickers escape to the countryside, but not this year. So because of the extra volume of people, the city will basically be off limits to private cars on Sunday.
So what’s going on and how many people do they expect?
Well more than 230,000 people are expected to descend on the capital coming from all over the country and from even further afield. A lot of people will be heading to Croke Park for the hurling and Gaelic football double header on Sunday.
However, the Bavaria City Racing Event (you may have heard about it) is also taking place around the streets of Dublin over the weekend, so restrictions are in place for that too. But that’s not all. Ireland’s largest gardening festival, Bloom, takes place in the Phoenix Park this weekend so that will undoubtedly add to the traffic delays.
I see, and when is all this going to start?
Well Bloom goes on for the whole weekend, so traffic restrictions will already be in place around the park – make sure to watch out for them when you’re heading home. However, without a shadow of a doubt, the busiest day of the weekend will be Sunday.
The GAA double header is on Sunday, as is all the Bavaria City Racing stuff. According to Garda Supt. Seán Ward of Store Street Garda station: “Traffic restrictions will come in for the Bavaria racing event from 7pm on Saturday evening and will build up then throughout the night and will be enforced from 6am in the morning.” So it will be an early start for anyone who needs to drive into town that day.
Right, so how do I get into town then?
Well all the green-fingered JOEs out there have it handy as there’s a free shuttle bus taking punters from Heuston Station to the Phoenix Park for Bloom. Don’t bother chancing your arm by bringing your car into the Phoenix Park anyway (even if you’re heading further into town for the Bavaria City Racing), as the Gardaí will be waiting to shift you on.
People are being advised to stick to public transport where possible (Luas, Dart, Dublin Bus, taxis, Dublin bikes etc.) as these won’t have to face any major traffic restrictions. If you must drive to Croker for the matches then you might want to check out the Irish Times as they have detailed directions on how to get there and how long extra you should add onto your journey.
Crikey. And how long is all this expected to last?
Well the Bavaria City Racing event finishes up at around 6pm on Sunday evening so we guess they’ll start packing up once the event is finished. If it takes them a whole night to put up the stands and what-not, we suspect it will take them a whole night to take it back down. As for Bloom and the GAA matches, they should be all wrapped up by late Sunday evening.
With that in mind, most of Dublin City should be back to normal by Monday afternoon. By which time you – and Dublin’s pyjama-wearing population – will no doubt be wandering around the city wondering what all the fuss was about.
