Organisers cancel 2020 Electric Picnic festival

The 2020 Electric Picnic festival has been cancelled.

Organisers said the decision was "unavoidable".

It follows the cancellation of all other large-scale events due to take place in the coming months, including the entire music festival calendar, and events such as the Ploughing Championships.

The summer festivals, including Longitude, Indiependence and All Together Now, were called off in the wake of the issuing of a government directive banning all events of more than 5,000 people until the end of August.

Electric Picnic, which was due to be headlined by Rage Against the Machine, the Chemical Brothers, Lewis Capaldi and Snow Patrol, was due to take place after this date from September 4 to 6. However, it was always considered unlikely to go ahead due to its capacity of more than 60,000 and the likely requirement for social distancing.

This was put further in doubt in recent days when Rage Against the Machine cancelled their entire 2020 schedule, while Denis Desmond of MCD had previously claimed it was "not likely" the festival could proceed this year.

In a statement, organisers said they are "terribly disappointed" but said they have a responsibility to all involved in the festival, including fans, artists, crews, suppliers and the people of Stradbally, where the festival takes place.

Ticketholders can keep their tickets for the 2021 edition of the festival if they want to do so but refunds are available from Ticketmaster. People are asked to contact them within the next 30 days to seek their refund.