Fears of fatal crush at Electric Picnic

FEARS of a potentially fatal crush in front of the main stage at Electric Picnic have been voiced by a local councillor.

Ballylinan native Cllr Aisling Moran called for talks with festival organisers, as she listed a series of issues regarding the 2025 event.

“We are so lucky to date that nobody has been injured or killed at the main stage,” Cllr Moran told a meeting in county hall this week, as she criticised a system that sees huge crowds “funnelled” towards the main arena from all sides.

Instead, she said that headliners and big acts should be scheduled to perform at the same time, to spread out the crowd to different stages and prevent a dangerous or even fatal crush.

Cllr Moran also highlighted a number of other issues, as she urged organisers to engage more with Laois Co Council officials and councillors before next year’s festival.

As well as calling for more toilets and bins, the independent councillor said there must be more consultation regarding traffic management on the Monday after the festival.

“It took me an hour and 40 minutes to get home on the Monday because of Electric Picnic,” she told the September meeting of Graiguecullen-Portarlington municipal district council.

A 30km stretch of the main N80 route was closed from 10am until 4pm that Monday, from the Bloomfield Roundabout in Portlaoise to Simmons Mill Cross near Ballylinan. A series of traffic detours was set up while gardaí managed the mass exodus from the Stradbally festival, which was attended by over 80,000 people.

As Electric Picnic organisers have to apply to Laois Co Council for a festival licence every year, Cllr Moran said the process must include far more discussion with the local authority and elected representatives in future, involving both Stradbally Estate landowner Tom Cosby and festival director Melvin Benn.

She said: “Electric Picnic was a fantastic event once again, but there are a number of issues that have to be discussed.

“We had one meeting where we were told what would happen and that was it. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be addressed and it needs to be discussed a number of times before the event.

“Unless Melvin Benn and Tom Cosby meet and talk with us, especially to us as we are the councillors for that area, every year we will be coming back with the same problems.” 

The festival is set to return to Stradbally from 28-30 August next year, with tickets already sold out.