More rockets and room for fireworks display

The St Patrick's Festival organisers have promised there will be no repeat of last year's crush in the city centre for the Skyfest fireworks display on Sunday.

Criticism of transport and stewarding arrangements for the inaugural event last March have led to the display being expanded threefold, to cover the length of the northside quays between the Custom House and the Point theatre. This will ensure a viewing area five times larger than that last year when crowds were heavily concentrated in the O'Connell Bridge area.

Mr Dominic Campbell, assistant director of the festival, said "an enormous amount of effort has been made to make this year's event successful and safe".

"Last year, the sheer volume of traffic and the size of the crowds took everybody by surprise. We have been working since with the authorities - the Garda, the corporation and public transport providers - to draw up a more co-ordinated plan."

He said delays were inevitable, however, as there was "no easy way to move 250,000 people into town to watch an event for 20 minutes and then home again almost immediately afterwards".

Spectators complained last year of insufficient public transport, overcrowding and inadequate access for emergency vehicles.

As well as having a bigger viewing area, this year's Skyfest will feature more pyrotechnics, 15 tonnes compared to last year's six tonnes. Some 56,400 shots will be fired, or 47 shots a second, starting at 8 p.m.

An Australian fireworks expert, Mr Syd Howard, who is co-ordinating the display, said: "We've had to double our crew to 20 this year and to use two sites on the river rather than one."

Since organising last year's Skyfest, he has managed firework displays at Sydney Harbour and on the Thames in London. "But this is getting near to the best we've done, especially in terms of public access as people really couldn't be any closer to the action," said Mr Howard.

Pyrotechnics are promised on a smaller scale at the festival's opening event tonight, the Xerox Night Parade around College Green and Dame Street in Dublin. Els Comediants from Barcelona, and the Galway-based Macnas street theatre group are collaborating on an onstage performance called The Journey, loosely based on Homer's Odyssey.

Tomorrow's Dublin parade begins at 11 a.m., travelling from St Patrick's Cathedral to Granby Row, off Parnell Square. An RTE "Monster" Ceili will take place between 2.30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in St Stephen's Green.

Saturday's highlights include the Noah's Ark community parade between Busaras and City Quay, starting at 8 p.m., and street parties on Grafton Street and in Temple Bar at 9 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. respectively.

Both tomorrow and on Saturday, a festival funfair will run between noon and 11 p.m. on each side of the Liffey at Custom House Quay and George's Quay.

Before Sunday's Skyfest is the Big Day Out with TV3 which takes place between noon and 6 p.m. at Westmoreland Street, Dame Street and Temple Bar. There will be street theatre, mini-parades, magic, comedy and puppet shows.

Traffic and parking restrictions will be in operation throughout the festival. Parking will be free in disk areas and clamping will be suspended tomorrow and on Sunday. However, cars illegally parked or causing an obstruction are liable to be towed away.

Dublin Bus said it would be operating a Sunday service tomorrow, with extra buses for the parade in the morning. Additional buses would also be put on for Sunday night to cater for Skyfest 2000.

Extra DART trains are also to operate tomorrow and on Sunday. As a safety measure, Tara Street station will be closed until 6 p.m. tomorrow and all day Sunday.