Gardaí have warned that plain clothes detectives will be in the crowd on Saturday for the Oasis concert at Slane Castle.
Superintendent Michael Devine from Navan Garda Station said anybody using illegal substances or abusing alcohol “stands a reasonable chance of winding up in court in Navan”. Special court sittings have been arranged for Saturday night and Sunday morning following the concert.
Supt Devine said there will be an alcohol ban on the streets of Slane though the pubs in the village will be open and nobody will be allowed to bring in alcohol into the venue.
Saturday's concert which will features The Prodigy and Kasabian is a sell-out and 80,000 people are expected to attend.
Slane Castle owner Lord Henry Mountcharles said the only trouble ever experiened at Slane Castle was when Bob Dylan played the venue 25 years ago and lessons were learned from that. “I say to members of the public, respect the people of Slane and realise that unsociable behaviour is unacceptable,” he said.
Gardaí have advised fans who are being dropped off at the venue by coaches to return to the designated coaches area which is on the N2 for fans returning to Dublin and the East Coast and the Navan and the Cullen roads for the rest of the country. At previous concerts fans have become lost when the coaches did not pick them up at the place where they were dropped off in the first place.
The traffic plan for Saturday's event is on the Garda website at www.garda.ie and motorists not travelling to the concert are advised to avoid the Slane area if possible.
The majority of cars will travel via the M1 motorway to dedicated car parks on the N51 Drogheda road, Slane. There will also be car parking on the N2 both north of Slane and on the Navan side of Slane on the N51. There will be car parking south of Slane on the N2.
