100,000 will line the streets to catch sight of Pope parade

UP TO 100,000 thousand people are expected on the streets of Dublin on Saturday to catch a first glimpse of Pope Francis.

As previously revealed by the Irish Daily Mail, the Pontiff will make his way through the city centre in a Popemobile, with the confirmed route announced yesterday.

The tour will begin after the Pope leaves St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral at around 4.15pm. The Popemobile will then travel down O’Connell Street, across O’Connell Bridge and up Westmoreland Street.

It will continue up Dame Street to pass Christchurch Cathedral, and go down Bridge Street, across the Liffey onto Church Street to the Capuchin Centre where the Pope is due to privately meet with homeless families.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Miriam O’Callaghan, Assistant Garda Commissioner Pat Leahy said that access will be allowed in the city centre where possible, and that restrictions will be dismantled as soon as the parade is over.

On Sunday, two bicycle parks with a total capacity for over 2,000 cyclists will be available for those attending the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park.

The bike parks will be located at DIT Grangegorman and St Brigid’s School in Blanchardstown, and will be a 3.6km and 4.9km walk from the park respectively.

They will be free of charge and will be staffed at all time by security personnel.

Cyclists will also be allowed to cycle within the controlled access zone but will have to dismount their bikes on roads that are fully closed if it is deemed a safety risk to cycle among large groups of pedestrians.

It has also been confirmed that taxis will be allowed to move through the controlled access zone on Sunday but will not be allowed closer to the Park than the seven public transport hubs surrounding the Phoenix Park.

Taxi service company MyTaxi said that they will be open for ‘business as usual’ over the weekend, and are advising passengers and drivers to plan journeys in advance.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Leahy yesterday highlighted the enormity of Sunday’s event, adding that in terms of the volume of people it is the largest event he has ever worked on. ‘It’s hard to imagine what half a million people look like,’ he told the RTÉ programme.

He also urged people to take note of the colour code on their ticket and plan the route they need to take to the park.

‘Please, please follow the colour coding on your ticket because that gets you from your transport into where you’re going to be sitting or standing for the event... it also reunites you with your transport on the way back.

‘So we’re saying follow the colour coding, listen to directions of gardaí and stewards and we’ll get you from your transport into the event and back to your transport safely.’

With a significant number of roads in the city due to be closed to private motorists, he assured residents in the controlled access zone that they will be allowed where possible.

However, he added that it will be ‘physically impossible’ to move vehicles in the area when crowds leave the Park.

‘What we would like to get out to people who feel like they’re going to be trapped as a consequence of the road closures that are there is that we’ll really, really attempt to facilitate everybody that lives within the control zone.

‘The city is not in lockdown but when we pull half a million people into that zone it just becomes unsafe to mix traffic with people at certain times throughout the day.’

Traffic updates will be available this weekend on 103.2 Dublin City FM, as the station’s LiveDrive Traffic Programme will be broadcast between 1pm and 6pm on Saturday.

The show will also air on Sunday from 10am to 3pm and again from 5pm to 7pm.

‘The city is not in lockdown’