Electric Picnic organiser should finance public lighting in Stradbally, say Laois councillors

Laois councillors believe "it's time now" for Electric Picnic organiser Festival Republic to finance infrastructure projects in Stradbally, the home of Ireland's largest music festival.

At the October meeting of Graiguecullen/Portarlington Municipal District, Fianna Fáil Cllr Paschal McEvoy proposed a motion for Laois County Council to extend public lighting out to “the Black Door” on Cork Road, Stradbally.

“The Black Door is the entrance into the Picnic,” Cllr McEvoy explained. “There’s a number of houses all along that road, and this is where all the pedestrians walk out of Electric Picnic.”

“I want Festival Republic to finance this project. They’re selling 80,000 tickets, and if you work out that, it’s somewhere in the region of €24 million they’re bringing in in ticket sales.”

“I totally think that they should be providing these lights,” Cllr McEvoy said, continuing: “I genuinely feel like it’s time now – Electric Picnic are there in excess of 20 years – that they start paying for some of the infrastructure that’s required around the place.”

He suggested that, as part of its licensing process, Festival Republic should contribute funding to public infrastructure including lighting and roads.

Laois County Council will ascertain cost and assess the suitability of new lights following a site meeting with Cllr McEvoy at the area in question.

Following those assessments, Cllr McEvoy added, "we look to have Festival Republic fund this project."

Fine Gael Cllr Vivienne Phelan and Independent Cllr Aisling Moran supported the motion.

Cllr Phelan, who had met with a council engineer at the site earlier that morning, said: "That's going to be quite a big job, to bring electricity from out in the middle of a field to where it needs to be, and I really don't think that the Council should be footing the bill for that."

She continued: "As Cllr McEvoy said, there is significant income coming in there, and I think [for] the residents, at this stage, it's going on long enough, it needs to be done."

Cllr Moran added that, besides ticket sales, "there's money coming in on all the vendors as well.

"A substantial amount of money is being made, and nobody has an issue with the amount of money they've made, but they have to look after the area that they're having it in, and that is Stradbally."