Electric Picnic organisers 'extrememly disappointed' by Laois County Council decision

Electric Picnic organisers have said they are “extremely disappointed” at the decision by Laois County Council to refuse a licence for this year’s festival which was scheduled to take place September 24-26.

The decision came after organisers proposes that everyone attending the event would have to be fully vaccinated and registered in advance for Department of Health contact tracing.

In a statement, organisers said:

“To see Scotland, a country with a similar population and virtually identical vaccine rollout and uptake as our own, only announce on Tuesday that they were easing restrictions and allowing events such as TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow go ahead in September makes this decision even more difficult to accept.

"This is a huge blow and set back to our entire sector, which was mandated to close on the March 12 2020 (over 500 days ago)” and that the “decision now means the further loss of employment for over 3,000 people, who had clung to the hope that Electric Picnic would bring an end to their period of hardship.”

“We now call upon all members of government to interrupt their summer recess and immediately issue reopening guidelines, as we have been calling for, with a reopening date for the sector of August 16 on a phased basis, building to the implementation of no restrictions from September 1 2021 onwards.”

The Electric Picnic team thanks fans for their patience and community of Stradbally and the people of Laois “for their huge ongoing support during this difficult time.”

Organisers will now review available options and be in contact directly with all ticket holders over the next week.