A fleet of buses will ferry thousands of soccer fans between Dublin city centre and the Phoenix Park, to give their World Cup heroes the homecoming of their lives.The service will begin at 4 p.m. from Dublin's George's Quay opposite the Customs House, and the Phoenix Park.
Dublin Bus has a fleet of 168 buses on stand-by, each with the capacity to carry up to 90 people. The return journey will cost €2 for adults and €1 for children.
The Phoenix Monument in the park will be the pick-up point for the return journey. Tickets are available from mobile offices both at George's Quay and the Phoenix Monument.
The gates of the Phoenix Park will be closed from noon today until 3 a.m. tomorrow morning, according to the Garda, which is advising everyone to make their way to the event by bus. There will be no unauthorised vehicular access, gardaí say, nor will any alcohol be allowed.
The event is organised by Dúchas, the Heritage Service, in conjunction with the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.
At 4.40 p.m, the KLM Boeing 747 carrying Mick McCarthy and the squad is expected to land at Dublin Airport. They will be transported by helicopter to the Phoenix Park. Fans are warned not to go to the airport.
"The official homecoming will take place in the Phoenix Park," according to Dúchas.
The organisers are determined not to replicate the experience of the Italia 90 World Cup homecoming, when thousands of fans turned up at the airport and caused traffic chaos.
The programme in the park will begin with a live concert to celebrate the squad's World Cup performance, according to Mr Gar Holohan, who has responsibility for organising the event.
Working with Aiken Promotions, Mr Holohan was already involved in organising a major concert in the park for August when called in by Dúchas to organise the event.
The gates of the park will open at 4 p.m. and a pop concert will begin at 6 p.m., according to Mr Holohan. He declined to disclose who the artists were, while hinting that "a couple of big bands" were coming.
"This is a day for the players and we do not want anyone upstaging their welcome. That's why we did not want any pre-publicity for this concert."
A number of high-profile acts had volunteered their services, however, and there would be no no shortage of talent, he said.
The concert is expected to continue for about two hours until McCarthy and the team make their appearance. The homecoming ceremony will last for 40 minutes and the concert will continue afterwards for another 20 minutes, as the events wind down.
The co-ordination of key groups was required in the staging of the homecoming programme, said Mr Holohan.
These were the safety and security measures involving the Garda, public transport requirements involving Dublin Bus, and promotional requirements for the concert, including liaison with RTÉ's outside broadcasting unit to show full-screen footage of the current and previous World Cups, and the design of the event itself.