Tickets for those hoping to see Pope Francis during his Irish visit will be available from next Monday.
Up to 500,000 places are being made available for the Phoenix Park – and a further 45,000 for Knock Shrine.
However, concerns have been raised that people will have to walk for several kilometres and wait for hours before seeing the Pontiff.
The pope will arrive in Ireland in just over two month’s time for the World Meeting of Families.
Tickets for @Pontifex visit to Knock Shrine & Phoenix Park will be available from Monday morning the 25th June via https://t.co/kVnrBtfoQZ They are free but you won't get in without a ticket @WMOF2018 #popeinireland pic.twitter.com/5MEvTKrlGz
— Paul Quinn (@pdquinn7) June 22, 2018
He’ll spend around 36 hours here – taking in a trip to Knock Shrine in Mayo and a mass for around half a million people in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, both on Sunday the 26th of August.
Tickets are available from Monday morning via worldmeeting2018.ie
Communications manager Brenda Drumm said that while the tickets are free – everyone will need one to attend:
“Tickets for Knock Shrine will be printed and posted by the 31st July to all of those who have successfully booked on our website,” she said.
“We will be issuing the tickets for Phoenix Park as a print-at-home ticket.
“We will not be printing or posting tickets for Phoenix Park.”
The secretary general of the World Meeting of Families Father Tim Bartlett has moved to play down concerns that attendees could be forced to walk several kilometres and wait up to five hours due to a massive security operation.
He said it would only happen in the worst case scenario:
“We are confident that, for the vast majority of people, those figures will not apply,” he said.
“But people should, nonetheless, be realistic and plan your journey well.”
More than 34,000 people from 114 countries have registered to attend the World Meeting of Families.
6,000 volunteers have also signed up - however organisers are still looking for 4000 more to get onboard.
Reporting from Paul Quinn
