Weekend offers a taste of the street

There's a feast of events taking place around the country this weekend including Taste of Dublin, the Street Performance World Championship and the Cork Midsummer Festival.

Many of the country's top chefs will be at the Iveagh Gardens over the coming days for the Taste of Dublin food and drink fair, which is expected to attract some 30,000 people.

Bon Appetit, Chapter One, Diep Le Shaker, Roly’s Bistro and Venu Brasserie are among the restaurants dishing up food and there will also be live chef demonstrations from the likes of Rachel Allen, Kevin Dundon, Derry Clarke, Neven Maguire and Clodagh McKenna. Standard tickets cost €28.50, or €14.50 for children; under-6s enter free.

The capital is also playing host to former Beatle Paul McCartney who is back at the RDS tomorrow following his sell-out concert at the O2 last December.

The Cork Midsummer Festival begins tomorrow and continues until June 27th. Among the performers appearing this year is New York storyteller Mike Daisey and Irish comedy act Dead Cat Bounce.

The AIB Street Performance World Championship 2010 also takes place in Cork this weekend before transferring to Dublin. This free event which is on at the Fitzgerald Park & Mardyke Sports Ground throughout tomorrow and Sunday includes contortionists, piano jugglers, magicians, breakdancers and other entertainers.

The Immrama travel writing Festival in Lismore, Co Waterford, which opened last night, continues until Sunday. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Jan Moris and Tim Severin are all scheduled to appear at this year's event.

The 2010 Éigse Carlow Arts Festival opened yesterday and runs until June 20th. The annual event, which has been running since 1979, includes Macnas will be performing tomorrow evening and there will also be a poetry reading from Michael D. Higgins.

The Special Olympics is on in Limerick over the weekend and motorists are warned to expect delays, particularly on the N&/Dublin Road. There's also racing on at Limerick Racecourse tomorrow which will likely lead to heavy traffic on the N20/N21 Adare Road before and after the races.

A meeting is also on at Roscommon racecourse on Sunday, while the Wicklow 200 cycling event takes place with over 2,000 cyclists expected to take part, leading to possible travel disruptions.

According to Met Éireann, it will be mostly dry over the coming days with sunny spells in many areas tomorrow. Saturday evening will be mostly cloudy, with rain spreading from the west and northwest to most parts as the day continues. Sunday promises a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers.