Laois Council gives green light for largest ever Electric Picnic

Laois County Council has granted a licence for the largest ever Electric Picnic at Stradbally this August.

The Council’s planning Department approved EP Republic Ltd’s application for the event to take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 29, 30 and 31. 

This year’s festival will have a daily limit of 80,000 attendees. The figure is up 6.25 percent on the previous year when the limit was set at 75,000 attendees per day. 

“A limited number of people, up to 40,000 will be permitted entry on Thursday 28th August,  all  of  whom  must  hold  an  Early  Entry  Ticket.  Campervan entry will open on Wednesday 27th August at 12:00hrs,” the Council confirmed when granting the licence. 

The approval means this will be the largest Electric Picnic to take place in the Cosby Estate in Stradbally since the festival began in Laois in 2004.    

Many of the submissions during the consultation phase of the licence application were critical of the Council for not including a licence condition requiring the festival to sell a percent of local produce. 

“As  set  out  above  a  number  of  third  party  submissions  (10)  were  received  in relation  to  the  proposed  development  and  are  summarised  in  this  report.  The submissions relate to a number of issues relating to the event supporting locally produced produce and particularly the nearby, Ballykilcavan Brewing Company,” the Council Planner noted. 

However, they said,  “this matter is outside of the remit of the Local Authority and therefore cannot be dealt  with  in  the  Event  Licence.  The  decision  to  allow  or  not  the  Ballykilcavan Brewing  Company or  any  corporate  entity  to  trade  at  the  event  is  a  commercial decision for the Promoter.” 

Laois County Council granted the licence subject to 51 conditions on Wednesday, June 18.