Christmas travellers face into transport rush

Travellers face into one of the busiest weekends for the State's transport network this evening, as the Christmas rush begins in earnest.

The good news is that the weekend is set to remain reasonably dry and bright, with light breezes. Temperatures will stay around the 9° to 10° mark. However, by Monday, a spell of persistent and sometimes heavy rain will spread from the south, giving a wet night, with fresh to strong, southeast winds.

Met Éireann says the outlook for Christmas Eve is for rain to clear to scattered showers during the morning. Christmas Day will also stay fairly mild, with some sunny patches and isolated showers.

You'll also be glad to hear that there are no major disruptions reported at the moment to either bus or rail services around the country.

Bus Éireann says it expects to carry over 200,000 passengers over the next two weeks. On Christmas Eve, most services will run as normal, with the exception of those on Eurolines cross-channel routes. Eurolines to Britain are cancelled on the 24th, 25th and 26th. Services on city, suburban and commuter routes will end earlier than usual.

There will be no Bus Éireann services on Christmas Day, and a limited operation on St Stephen's Day. Buses on New Year's Eve will run as normal, with some cancellations. City, suburban and commuter routes will also cease early. A Sunday service will operate on New Year's Day.

Iarnród Éireann and Northern Ireland Railways services are not running on Christmas Day or St Stephen's Day.

Late-night DART services will operate this weekend, but will cease over Christmas. DART passengers are being encouraged to use Dublin Bus Nitelink services. On Christmas Eve, the last DART trains will leave Howth at 21.12 and Bray at 21.07. Both these trains will terminate in Connolly Station. A Sunday Service with minor alterations will be provided on DART, Drogheda and Maynooth suburban lines on New Year's Day.

There are no flights into or out of Dublin, Cork or Shannon airports on Christmas Day. Flights will resume on St Stephen's Day.

Aer Rianta has warned passengers to give themselves plenty of time to get to the airport. Approach roads to Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports will be busy with over 600,000 passengers coming in and out of those airports between now and Christmas Eve. It is estimated 500,000 people will be using Dublin Airport during the Christmas Holiday period.

Irish Ferries will carry approximately 63,000 passengers and 15,500 vehicles on its Dublin and Rosslare routes to Britain. The services to France from Rosslare will carry around 3,200 passengers and 1,200 vehicles.

Dublin Bus is offering a special flat rate fare of 80 cent to all passengers in and out the city centre tomorrow. The move is seen as a goodwill gesture following the furore over the company's increase of its fares and subsequent climbdown earlier this month.

Also in Dublin, the Garda Siochána's Operation Freeflow - which sees officers on foot, motorbike and bicycles patrolling all main arteries and known blackspots - will continue to be enforced. Motorists are being asked to leave their cars at home and use public transport.

The N1/M1 Swords Rd is also reduced to one lane in both directions between Collins Avenue and the Shantalla Bridge for Dublin Port Tunnel Construction work, while the erection of the Spire of Dublin in O'Connell Street will cause delays in the city centre.