Thousands to take off in search of sun

The mixed-bag weather of the summer of 1998 will reassert itself over the August bank holiday weekend, making sporting and cultural events the attractions rather than the beach.

The weekend forecast is for a little more sunshine, but showers and heavier outbreaks of rain will be evident, too, according to Ms Deirdre Lowe of Met Eireann.

Showers are expected to die out today, particularly in the west. It will be brighter than yesterday, but temperatures at best will be close to normal. Tomorrow will begin bright and dry, but a band of rain will cross from the Atlantic during the afternoon and evening. The pattern for Monday is for sunshine and showers, with some areas escaping with little or no rain. "Unfortunately, there are no real signs of the weather settling down," Ms Lowe added.

Air, bus and rail services have been increased to cater for the thousands of people travelling this weekend, many of whom are beginning their summer holidays.

Aer Rianta expects more than 245,000 passengers to pass through Cork, Dublin and Shannon Airports, which would make it its busiest bank holiday period ever. Dublin Airport, which is reporting a 10 per cent increase in figures on last year, has added 165 flights to its normal summer schedule to meet demand. Aer Lingus has predicted an 18 per cent increase on last year's traffic, with most increased business coming from Britain.

Iarnrod Eireann expects to carry 200,000 passengers over the holiday weekend, and more than 30 trains will operate in addition to regular services. These include special services on Sunday for the Kildare-Meath Leinster Football Final in Croke Park and the Kerry-Tipperary Munster Football Final.

Bus Eireann will operate extra Expressway and provincial bus services to cater for 100,000 passengers, although there are some cancellations on Sunday, while Monday's service will operate as on Sundays but with extra evening services to cater for people returning to main centres.

It is "football weekend" as far as the GAA's all-Ireland championships are concerned. With provincial finals in Munster, Leinster, and Connacht where Roscommon, playing at home in Hyde Park, resume battle with Galway in a replay this evening.

For soccer fans, there is much to savour, with Liverpool, the Italian side Lazio and Leeds in Dublin for a four-team tournament, the Carlsberg Trophy, in which St Patrick's Athletic represent Irish interests. It concludes at Lansdowne Road this afternoon.

For non-sporting enthusiasts, numerous events and festivals will take place at the weekend, notably the National Book Fair at 17 Molesworth Street (the Masonic Hall) in Dublin today; Beara Arts Festival in Castletownbere, Co Cork; the Mary from Dungloe Festival; and the Ballymote Heritage Weekend in Co Sligo.

On Monday there is a horse racing benefit for Sudan at Leopardstown Racecourse with the first race at 2.20 p.m. and ticket proceeds going to Concern. The famous Stradbally Steam Rally also takes place in Laois.

Monday marks the opening of Feile an Phobail, the week-long West Belfast Community Festival; the O'Carolan International Harp Festival in Keadue, Co Roscommon; KISS, the Kerry International Summer School of living authors in Tralee and the 39th Yeats International Summer School in Sligo.

The Bank Holiday weekend got off to a bad start for Iarnrod Eireann in Galway yesterday when an engine failure forced the cancellation of the 7.45 a.m. train to Dublin.

More than 100 passengers had to be bussed to Dublin from the rail station.