LEONARD COHEN and Rod Stewart will be among the many musicians entertaining people across the country in what promises to be the busiest entertainment weekend of the year.
Cohen returns to Ireland for the first of two concerts at Lissadell House in Co Sligo this evening, while Rod Stewart will be at the O2 in Dublin.
Among the other bank holiday highlights are the Combined Provinces rugby clash at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, the venue’s inaugural event, and the Spraoi in Waterford city.
The capital’s answer to the London Eye opens today in the Docklands.
The Dublin Wheel operates daily from 10am to 10pm. A 13-minute trip costs €9 per person.
A number of festivals are taking place over the coming days, including Castlepalooza in Co Offaly, which is headlined by Mercury Rev and also includes DJ, Norman Jay and Fionn Regan.
Martha Wainwright is top of the bill at the Cork X Southwest festival in Skibbereen, while the Indiependence Festival in Mitchelstown has a host of acts including White Lies and the Coronas.
The inaugural Athlone Music Festival will feature performances from Imelda May, Mundy, Sharon Shannon and the Undertones.
Co Clare hosts the Scariff Harbour Festival, Co Meath the Le Chéile arts and music festival, and summerfests are also continuing in Bray, Co Wicklow and Killarney, Co Kerry.
Harpists and traditional musicians from around the globe will gather in Keadue, Co Roscommon for a festival commemorating the composer Turlough O’Carolan.
Musicians from both sides of the Border are expected at the James Morrison traditional music festival in Riverstown, Co Sligo.
In Belfast, a week-long pipe music festival begins today, coinciding with the European Pipe Band Championships.
More than 25,000 people are expected to attend the championships at Stormont.
Also in the city, the 20th Belfast Pride Parade takes place at 2pm today from Custom House Square.
Waterford hosts its annual Spraoi festival this weekend and is expected to attract more than 80,000 people.
It will finish with a fireworks display tomorrow and motorists are warned that the quay will be closed during the event.
On the sporting front, the Irish Open golf championship continues in Killarney as do the Galway Races at Ballybrit.
Met Éireann forecasts a mixed weekend weatherwise.
Today is expected to be fresh and breezy with sunny spells and showers while tomorrow will bring a few brighter spells but will also be fairly cloudy.
Bank holiday Monday will start dry with some sunny spells but it will turn cloudier from the west during the day.
Safety Drive: Motorists Urged To Go Slow
GARDAÍ HAVE urged motorists to take care on the roads during the busy bank holiday weekend.
Assistant Garda Commissioner Kevin Ludlow said there would be significantly more traffic about and warned that gardaí would be out in force over the coming days.
The advice from gardaí is that drivers should slow down and allow adequate time for their journey.
Motorists are also advised to wear their seatbelts at all times, to never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs and not to use mobile phones while driving.
Three people died on the roads during last year’s August bank holiday weekend.
So far this year, 116 people have been killed on the roads, a decrease of 20 on the same period in 2009. Seventy of those who have died this year were in the 16-35 age group and included the seven young men who were killed in the two-car collision in Donegal earlier this month in which an elderly man also lost his life.
Separately, a new study shows that as many as one in five young people between the ages of 17- 34 years have been a passenger in a car driven by someone under the influence of drugs.
The online survey. which was conducted among 1,000 young people, also shows that 1 in 20 drivers have been behind the wheel while using recreational drugs. CHARLIE TAYLOR