Public transport winds down to near point of stoppage from 9 p.m. tonight

Drivers are being urged to avail of the late-night public transport facilities available over Christmas and not to drink and drive. The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Robert Molloy, appealed last night to road-users "to exercise care and caution on Irish roads over Christmas and the millennium".

However, public transport services in the capital will start to wind down this evening. DART and Dublin Bus services from the city centre will finish at 9 p.m. Dublin Bus will provide "a limited Sunday service" on St Stephen's Day, and there will be no Nitelink service either tonight or on St Stephen's Day. DART services will not resume until Monday.

Normal weekday Expressway services will operate today with some alterations and cancellations. As in Dublin, services on city, suburban and commuter routes will terminate earlier than normal. There will be no service tomorrow.

On St Stephen's Day there will be a limited service on principal Expressway routes, Cork suburban routes and the Limerick-Shannon route. Cork city services will operate as on Sunday. There will be no city services on December 26th in Galway, Limerick or Waterford.

Normal weekday services with some alterations will operate from Tuesday 28th to Thursday 30th inclusive. Euroline services to Britain are cancelled on today, tomorrow, St Stephen's Day and New Year's Eve.

Many banks will open until midday today, but the Irish Bankers Federation has warned that there will be only one day - December 30th - between Christmas Day and January 3rd when banks will be open.

The Eastern Health Board has appealed to the public to use hospital accident and emergency departments appropriately over the holiday period, and to attend their GP unless their problem is a serious one or a genuine emergency.

The RNLI says it expects a busy holiday period. It says its 4,300 volunteers would be on 24hour call and that over the last five years there had been an average of 100 launches over the Christmas and new year period.

Internet: www.dublinbus.ie