THOUSANDS ARE ARRIVING in Co Laois for Electric Picnic today as the music and arts festival kicks off for the weekend.

Some 75,000 revellers will make their way to Stradbally which will continue until Sunday night.

The weather is expected to add to the festivities, with Met Éireann forecasting temperatures between 16 and 21 degrees.

Gardaí and festival organisers are advising to allow additional time for any journeys made in the area until Monday.

Gardaí want all motorists avoid using Sat Nav or GPS to get to the site, and instead are advising that they use Electric Picnic’s specially developed interactive map to prevent losing their way.

They say directions are “clearest” from this map available here.

Garda checkpoints will be in place over the course of the weekend to detect those driving while under the influence.

Festival-goers are strongly encouraged to make their way to the site at Stradbally by public transport where possible.

Portlaoise is the closest train station to Stradbally and there will be a paid shuttle bus service operating from the station directly to the site’s only designated pick-up drop-off area, located just off the N80 on the Portlaoise side of Stradbally.

Car parks

General ticket holders can access carparks from 9am this morning. The carparks will be remain open until 4pm on Monday.

Car parks opened for early entry ticket holders yesterday.

Tow-away vehicles will be in operation for the duration of the festival to remove any illegally parked vehicle and those causing obstruction.

Gardaí advised that there will be “no collection point at any carpark” over the duration of the weekend.

All buses attending the event, taxis and motorists dropping off festival-goers must use the Pick-up Drop-off area located just off the N80 on the Portlaoise side of Stradbally.

People attending the festival this weekend have been advised that very high potency drugs are likely to be in circulation at the festival.

The potency of drugs like MDMA and ketamine has increased each of the past three years that the HSE has been carrying out testing at the site.