UPDATED: Electric Picnic in doubt after new Government Covid-19 decision on mass gatherings
Thoughts?
Electric Picnic 2020 is almost certainly off the agenda with a new announcement this week by Government on large gatherings.
Laois County Council and all other local authorities have been told not to consider any applications for licences for events up to the end of August.
While Electric Picnic is due to take place from September 3 to 7 this year, a decision is likely to be too late to organise the massive event.
Tickets for the 70,000 festival are all sold out.
EP Republic Ltd announced a fortnight ago that it was applying for the event licence to Laois County Council. However that process takes five weeks for a decision.
A statement issued on April 21 by Government said that local authorities have been advised by it that event promoters should be informed that events requiring licences in excess of 5,000 will not be considered for the period up to the end of August.
At Cabinet on Tuesday, Ministers were told that all major planned gatherings will have to be shelved until September at the earliest.
It means there will be no major sport events or concerts held in the country this summer. The Tidy Towns competition is also shelved.