Approximately 300,000 people are travelling through Dublin Airport this weekend, according to communications lead Graeme McQueen. 

Festivities at Terminal 1 kicked off yesterday as more than 100-thousand passengers arrived into Dublin Airport for St Patrick’s Day weekend. 

According to daa Media Relations Manager Mr McQueen, 105,000 people travelled through the airport yesterday, while 95,000 are expected to travel through today. 

A further 100,000 will arrive at Dublin Airport tomorrow, with the majority then leaving from Tuesday onwards. 

“We’ve had seven or eight flights in already this morning,” Mr McQueen told The Anton Savage Show. 

“Marching bands and tourists coming in for the parade... it shows the interest in Ireland and the demand to come they want to come and have Paddy’s Day here. 

“The people who go through the week have come in years in gone by and they love the welcome, they love the atmosphere.” 

Several people flying into Dublin Airport this weekend are taking part in the St Patrick’s Day parade themselves, including Wicklow Town Chairperson Arthur Williams flying in from South Africa. 

“We’re having a big parade in Wicklow town,” he said. “The theme is music and dance and we’re hoping to get about 10,000 people on the streets.” 

From the airport to the parade

Others are simply here to watch the festivities, particularly the country’s biggest parade in Dublin. 

“We're going to the Guinness Store tour and we’re going to go to this place called O'Reilly's and then Dicey's,” one American tourist told Newstalk. 

Mr McQueen said the influx of passengers marks the “start of the busy period” for Dublin Airport. 

“We then move quickly to Easter and then May, June, July you see the summer holiday season kicking in,” he said. 

“We want to give people reasons to come and there’s no better reason.” 

He also noted roughly 5,000 Scottish people are flying into Ireland this weekend for this evening’s Six Nations match against Ireland in the Aviva Stadium. 

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