Bank Holiday crammed with events and music festivals

Three music festivals, hundreds of Gathering events and a wide variety of events will take place this bank holiday weekend around the country, traditionally the busiest of the year.

Oxegen at Punchestown Racecourse and the boutique festivals of Castlepalooza at Charleville Castle in Tullamore and Indiependence at Mitchelstown, Co Cork, will attract a disparate range of music fans.

Oxegen returns this year in a much slimmed down version of its old self with a dance-heavy bill featuring David Guetta and Calvin Harris as headliners.

Indiependence, a 5,000 capacity festival, has garnered an impressive line-up with headliners De La Soul, Bell XI and Bastille.

Castlepalooza, now in its seventh year, includes Le Galaxie, The Charlatans and Little Green Car among its line-up.

There are no less than 207 Gathering events this month, with 87 of them taking place this weekend.

The Joe Dolan International Westmeath Bachelor Festival takes place in the late singer's hometown of Mullingar, Co Westmeath, while the the Cornamucklagh Donkey Derby Festival, featuring Danny the American donkey, takes place in Omeath, Co Louth.

The legacy of WB Yeats will be celebrated on Benbulben mountain in Co Sligo this weekend where people will trek to the foot of the mountain to be part of a choreographed message of hope inspired by his poetry.

The fourth annual Greystones Americana and Roots Weekend returns this year with all new acts from Ireland, Europe and the US.

Letterkenny Live will have acts such as The Delorentos and Royseven on the streets.

Tourism Ireland estimates that 40 per cent of Irish adults attend a festival at some point during the year, generating two million bed nights.

In addition, about 300,000 overseas holidaymakers attended a festival or cultural event each year and spend on average €900 each while in Ireland spending in excess of €250 million.

More than 285,000 passengers are expected to travel through Dublin Airport between today and Monday night, a 7 per cent increase over the same period last year, according to the Dublin Airport Authority.

Over 2,000 flights will arrive and depart during this time, including 100 charter flights, which have been added to the normal schedule.

The forecast for those staying at home over the weekend is mixed. Tomorrow will see sunshine and showers, with highs of 17 to 21 degrees.

There could be a lot of rain on Sunday in the south and south-east, but the west and north-west may stay dry. Temperatures will be similar to today.

The eastern half of the country may see further rain overnight into Monday while the west stays mainly dry. Rain in the east should then clear by Monday afternoon and sunny spells will spread from the west.