Dublin’s Phoenix Park will be closed to the public for a 24-hour period during the official visit of US President Joe Biden, the Office of Public Works (OPW) has said.
At the request of gardaí, all entrances to the park, including pedestrian gates, will be shut from 5pm on Wednesday to facilitate President Biden’s visit. All park gates will remain closed for 24 hours, reopening at 5pm on Thursday.
According to an OPW spokeswoman, access will still be provided to essential staff working in the park.
As one of the main routes from Dublin city centre to the northwestern suburbs, thousands of vehicles pass through the Phoenix Park every day. The park is also popular with walkers and cyclists.
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Dublin Zoo will be closed until 9.30am on Friday but necessary staff will still be permitted entry to care for animals. The zoo says that ticket holders affected by the closure will be fully refunded in the next seven to 10 days.
The OPW has apologised for any inconvenience caused, saying that all park roads and gates will reopen “as soon as it is safe to do so”.
An Garda Síochána said there will also be traffic restrictions in Dublin city centre on Monday and Tuesday. From Monday at 7am, there will be parking restrictions on Earlsfort Terrace, Leeson Street Lower, Hatch Street Lower, Castle Street and Ship Street. The restrictions will continue until Saturday, April 15th.
Between 7am on Tuesday and Saturday morning, Earlsfort Terrace will be completely closed to traffic, with pedestrian access to businesses on Earlsfort Terrace via Hatch Street only.
President Biden will be in the Phoenix Park on Thursday to meet President Michael D Higgins in Áras an Uachtaráin. It is expected that he will ring the Peace Bell and plant a tree, as previous visiting dignitaries have done.
From there, President Biden will travel the short distance within the Phoenix Park to Farmleigh where he will meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for their one-to-one meeting. It is also possible that the president could visit Deerfield, the official residence of US ambassador Claire Cronin, also located in the park.
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In the afternoon, Biden will become the fourth US president to address the Oireachtas after John F Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Bill Clinton in 1995.
President Biden will later visit Dublin Castle on Thursday evening for a banquet dinner before completing his Irish trip on Friday with a visit to Ballina, Co Mayo, the home of his great-great-great-grandfather Edward Blewitt, who emigrated to the US in 1850.
