The large number of events taking place in the capital today is a celebration of the city and is in stark contrast to the riots that took place seven months ago, the Lord Mayor of Dublin has said.
James Geoghegan said the fact that around 600,000 people were descending on Dublin for a number of major events this weekend showed that there is momentum in the city.
The annual Pride Parade, four GAA quarter-finals in Croke Park, a concert by Taylor Swift at the Aviva Stadium and more concerts at Marlay Park, Fairview Park and Trinity College are just some of the major events taking place throughout Dublin this weekend.
Mr Geoghegan said the events represented a celebration of Dublin and that people could take pride in the city which was being showcased at its best.
We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
He said: “It really is remarkable that we’ve come to this place from all those negative images.
“Now we’ve got such a positive day and even though it’s raining it’s not dampening spirits.
“I think it’s really important we’re seeing a lot of good things happening on O’Connell Street.
“When you compare that to the scenes of burning Luas I think we are actually building momentum.
“I think we’re really on the cusp of a great momentum here in Dublin city and obviously that against the backdrop of all the terrible things we witnessed.
“But hopefully there’s a bit of hope now and I think today is the best example of that.”
He was speaking ahead of the annual Pride Parade where more than 150 groups and tens of thousands of people are marching through the capital despite heavy rain.
This year’s event is marking 50 years since the first gay rights march took place in the capital in June 1974.
Mr Geoghan said: “Today is Dublin pride but I hope people take pride generally. Particularly for Dubliners.
“We know that Dublin is one of the most popular cities in the world for tourists to travel to but often its Dubliners who are very disappointed it’s how our city centre is so I hope any Dubliners who are round today are really proud of our capital, that we can showcase all these events in one single day and showcase Dublin at its best.
“That’s one of the big things I hope people will take away today.”
Jamie Kenny, CEO Dublin LGBT+ Pride, said Dublin was sea of joy and celebration despite the inclement weather
He said: “Look how far we’ve come. In 1974 there was about ten people on the street now we have tens of thousands so we’ve come along way.”
A major garda operation is under way in the capital to deal with the various events.
Assistant Commissioner Cliona Richardson said gardaí are monitoring the situation across the city and are prepared to respond to any issues with public order or travel delays.
She said: “In addition to our normal policing response and normal policing resources we have hundreds of other gardaí that have been deployed in relation to the events specifically to ensure that we have a sufficient response to whatever may occur, in particular around traffic management and people getting in and out of the various events and also ensuring that people are safe.”
Gardaí are advising people to leave enough time for their journey, be prepared for delays and to remain patient as they try and move around the capital today.
Transport providers have warned that due to the unprecedented number of events services will be extremely busy.
All of this means that more people than usual will be travelling into, and across, the capital.
As a result, gardaí are treating this as an extraordinary policing event with leave limited in Dublin and traffic management plans will be in place as they deal with numbers equivalent to St Patricks Day – albeit more spread out.
Some additional public transport is running, with passengers advised to leave extra time to get to their destination.
People who are not attending the major events are advised to travel outside of event times where possible.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Iarnród Éireann has urged revellers to organise their travel plans in advance and to allow extra time.
It also confirmed that extra commuter and DART services will run this weekend.
“We’re definitely ramping up to provide as much capacity as we can. There’s certainly never been a weekend like it in terms of the number of huge events happening at the same time,” said Iarnród Éireann Communications Manager Barry Kenny.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Kenny said “basically every intercity train en route to Dublin” over the weekend was sold.
There’s likely to be high demand for taxis too, and earlier this week the Taxis for Ireland Coalition predicted that the number of events could lead to long waits for transport for those needing a lift home.
Those flying to and from Dublin Airport – where parking spaces are sold out – are being advised to get buses or lifts and arrive in plenty of time for flights.
