Ireland's largest music festival Electric Picnic is under way in Co Laois today, with 70,000 people expected to attend the three-day festival in Stradbally.
Headline acts at this year's festival include Billie Eilish, Niall Horan, Paolo Nutini, The Killers and The Script.
For the first time, disposable vapes will be banned at this year's Electric Picnic, with organisers citing the difficulty in recycling them and their impact on the environment.
A HSE drug-testing programme trialled at last year's festival is returning and expanding to include harm reduction outreach teams.
Festivalgoers are being advised to follow Electric Picnic signage and garda directions as they near the site rather than sat nav directions.
The weather will generally be kind to music lovers this weekend, with tomorrow and Sunday expected to be dry, but scattered showers were forecast for today, with the potential for some downpours.
Electric Picnic Festival Director Melvin Benn said the lineup, even beyond the main headliners is "incredible" this year.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said the event has a new wellness area called Croí, adding that the "whole site looks stunning".
As the Electric Picnic begins, its organiser Melvin Benn explains how the festival is the culmination of 12 months of planning with finishing touches happening right up to kick off. #electricpicnic pic.twitter.com/maICvNvesW
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 1, 2023
Mr Benn said there is a really "broad age range" of festival goers, with sometimes three or four generations of the same family attending.
"We have an incredible family campsite, which we call the 'Little Picnic'," as well as a children's area, with plans to double the size of the family campsite for next year.
Asked about the issue of waste, he said that once the festival ends, workers sift through what is left behind and recycle as much of it as possible.
He appealed to people not to leave tents behind, but said it is an annual problem.
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Meanwhile, the Road Safety Authority has appealed to people travelling to the festival over the weekend to take care on the roads.
CEO Sam Waide said that while Electric Picnic promises to be a great weekend, "festival-goers should think responsibly" when planning their journeys to and from Stradbally.
He said one in four of road fatalities so far this year have been people aged between 16 and 25 and urged people to "slow down, don't use a mobile phone while driving and remember, driving the morning after consuming drugs or alcohol will put you in danger".
The RSA said bars at the event will close an hour earlier on Sunday night, and on Monday the car parks will remain open until 4pm, which is three hours longer than previous years, so that drivers have the opportunity to wait until they are fit to drive.
For anyone who wants to leave the car at home, there are dedicated public transport routes along with an allocated drop off area close to the event entrance.
