Electric Picnic organisers have sought to clarify reports that they are planning to go ahead with the music festival this year.

The event was cancelled last year due the pandemic, and according to newspaper reports, Festival Republic said they hoped the event would take place in Stradbally, Co Laois in the first weekend in September unless the Government advises them not to.

However, in a series of tweets on Monday afternoon on the official Electric Picnic twitter account, organisers have distanced themselves from quotes in the report, which they say may appear to have been made on the behalf of Festival Republic director Melvin Benn.

"An article has appeared in the Irish Times this morning that makes statements on Melvin Benn's behalf and appears as one of the event organisers is speaking on behalf of the Electric Picnic," they said.

"The person being interviewed is not one of the organisers and his points are his points and we have asked for the article to be taken down.

"The Electric Picnic team remain hopeful that the vaccination roll out will be complete in sufficient time to allow the festival to go ahead obviously but remain in Government hands for that."

Mr Benn is due to take part in Fuel The Future, a webinar about the future of the live music industry, where he is expected to discuss plans for this year’s Electric Picnic.

95% of ticketholders for last year's EP have kept their tickets for this year’s edition of the 70,000-capacity festival.

Mr Benn announced earlier this year that the Reading and Leeds festivals in the UK will be staged as normal in late August.

Melvin Benn meets the media 

Last year, Irish concert promoters MCD announced that they are going ahead with their plans to hold Longitude in Marley Park in July.