A Laois County Councillor has urged Electric Picnic organisers to engage more with the local authority ahead of the 2026 festival.
Cllr Aisling Moran was speaking at this week’s meeting of Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District where she said that there needs to be far more engagement than is currently the case.
“The Electric Picnic was a fantastic event once again,” she said. “But there are a number of issues.”
The organisers apply to Laois County Council for the licence every year but Cllr Moran says that this process needs to include a far greater level of discussion.
Among the areas she highlighted were what she considered a shortage of bins, a need for more toilets, more big acts on at the same time to spread the crowd out and the traffic plan on Monday when people are leaving.
“We had one meeting and told what would happen and that was it. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be address.
“Unless Melvin Benn (festival director) and Tom Cosby (site owner) sit and meet with us – especially us we are the councillors for that area – every year we will be coming back with the same problems.”
Electric Picnic will take place again in Stradbally in 2026 from August 28-30 with tickets selling out almost instantly once more.
Next year’s festival will be the 21st time that it has taken place in Laois. 2004 was its first year but it didn’t take place in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid.
SEE ALSO – What it’s like to perform on the main stage of Electric Picnic
