Ciara Kelly wants Electric Picnic to go ahead but some locals are calling for it to be postponed

Some locals in Stradbally are calling for Electric Picnic to be postponed once again. The annual festival is still due to go ahead in early September – by which stage the Government expects to have vaccinated the vast majority of adults in the country. The Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said 70% of adults will be fully vaccinated by the end of next month. Meanwhile, the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said anyone who wants a vaccine should be fully vaccinated by the end of September. On Newstalk Breakfast however, Laois County Councillor, Paschal McEvoy said people in Stradbally feel Electric Picnic is a step too far this year. “Public health is paramount and that comes first and foremost with us here in Stradbally,” he said. “The Electric Picnic brings a massive financial contribution to the locality and to Laois in general and probably further afield but we feel here in Stradbally … my feedback from the locals is that it is too soon to have 70,000 people converge on a small town like Stradbally. “We are hoping that Festival Republic takes the decision to postpone it again.” He suggested that even if the vast majority of people will be vaccinated in September, those that are not are, “some of the people that would be attending the festival here in Stradbally.” “The current vaccine set-up … with the Indian variant out there, it is getting more dangerous and if you look at the UK, they are after postponing their full reopening for another four weeks,” he said. “Look, we just have to be very, very careful. We are after spending 18 months in lockdown and we can’t afford to take a major chance like having 70,000 people here.”