Gardaí urge 75,000 Electric Picnic revellers to stay safe
The Is The Calendar Irish Picnic Festival In Electric Biggest
The 75,000 people who will attend Electric Picnic over the next four days have been urged to stay safe at the festival.
The event — the biggest festival in the Irish calendar — opens its gates for early entry tickets at 4pm today at Stradbally Hall.
Ahead of the kickoff of the festivities, gardaí have issued traffic and travel advice as well as key pieces of information.
Officers will be out on all routes in and around the site to ensure that all those attending can arrive safely, while non-event traffic and local residents can all travel with ease by keeping disruptions to a minimum.
Those travelling to Rosslare Port are advised to avoid Stradbally where possible and use an alternative route.
A Garda spokesperson said that they are strongly encouraging people to make their way to Electric Picnic by public transport where possible.
They noted that there will be a paid shuttle bus service operating from Portlaoise Train Station directly to the site.
For motorists, gardaí are asking drivers to avoid using Sat Nav or GPS to get to the site, and instead are advising that they use its specially developed interactive map.
The directions for all those travelling to Electric Picnic from Dublin, Cork, Limerick, the west of Ireland and the south-east are all clearest from this map.
Chief Superintendent Tony Lonergan said: "An Garda Síochána has been putting in a huge amount of work behind the scenes with the festival organiser and our colleagues in the Health Service Executive and the Civil Defence to co-ordinate the festival.
"It takes enormous effort to prepare for this event, as well as really hard work from gardaí working across the weekend to keep everyone safe and well.
"We want everyone to have a safe and enjoyable weekend, and to look after themselves and one another.
"For a festival of this size, we need everyone’s support to make sure it goes off successfully.
"We ask every one attending to be patient and work with us.
"We’re here to help so no one attending Electric Picnic should hesitate to call on us for help or support or stop us to say hello.”
Specifically, gardaí say that drivers must be aware of the danger of driving under the influence of an intoxicant whether alcohol and/or drugs.
Garda checkpoints will be in place over the course of the weekend to detect those driving while under the influence.
Should a driver fail a roadside test, they will be arrested.
A blood sample will be taken and should that sample show the presence of a substance or indicates a blood/alcohol level above the legal limit to drive, the person potentially faces a disqualification and fine.
Inside the festival, gardaí will be on duty to help with any queries or worries that members of the public may have.