The organisers of Electric Picnic are being criticised for not allowing a local brewer sell its products at the festival.
Electric Picnic has official partnerships with international brands like Bacardi and Heineken - which Ballykilcavan brewery in Stradbally say are exclusive contracts.
The 2023 event starts next week with headliners including Billie Eilish, The Killers and Fred Again.
Ballykilcavan brewery is just 2.5km from the site of the Electric Picnic (@EPfestival), but we are not allowed to serve our beers there. The festival claims to be sustainable, but despite our three national sustainability awards, we're still not allowed in. Here's why. pic.twitter.com/QGExg0tFDZ
— Ballykilcavan (@Ballykilcavan) August 17, 2023
David Walsh-Kemmis from Ballykilcavan Brewery which is less than three kilometres from the festival site believes it is an unfair decision:
"We can quite easily step outside the brewery and we can actually hear the music when the festival's on.
"We can't serve our beers in there because there's an exclusivity deal done.
"Basically, Heineken sponsor the festival as part of that sponsorship.
"It means that they have complete exclusivity.
"So even though when you go in there, it looks like there's a lot of different brands, all of those brands are completely owned by Heineken, and it means that we as a small brewery, literally on the doorstep, are completely excluded from going in."
He continued to say it would help with Electric Picnic's sustainability and reduce carbon emissions associated with the event.
"We've won three major national sustainability awards in the last 18 months.
"I would argue that we're pretty high up in the terms of sustainability and certainly in terms of carbon footprint for getting beers into the festival.
"As someone said on Twitter, we could bring it in in a wheelbarrow. We're that close, you know."
Electric Picnic has been contacted for a response.
Earlier this week, the organisers of Electric Picnic announced the festival would be moved two weeks earlier than the traditional first weekend of September.
EP 2024 will instead take place between August 16th and 18th.
