Those wishing to buy alcoholic beverages at this summer’s music festivals in Ireland, will have to do so from a company using these events to fund pro-abortion campaign groups.
The Workers’ Beer Co is the only supplier of alcohol to eight large music events in June and July, and its bars will be staffed by activists from Alliance for Choice and the Abortion Rights Campaign.
The events will host: Snow Patrol (June 7, Malahide), Metallica (June 8, Slane), Mumford and Sons (June 14 and 15, Malahide), Noel Gallagher (June 16, Malahide), George Ezra (June 21, Malahide), Lana Del Rey (June 22, Malahide), and the Longitude festival (Marlay Park, July 5-7).
These are expected to draw in upwards of 100,000 people and it is unclear whether concert attendees are aware the gigs are being used as a means to finance these campaign groups.
Workers’ Beer Company runs bars at music events across the British Isles, which are staffed by volunteers from activist groups, like Abortion Rights.
Alliance for Choice is a Belfast-based counterpart to the Abortion Rights campaign in the Republic.
Denise Walker, who is on the Irish committee of the Workers Beer Co, told the News Letter Alliance for Choice will not be at every gig, but Abortion Rights Campaign will.
The pro-life group, Both Lives Matter, have highlight that this puts pro-life attendees in a difficult position because their can be no meaningful boycott of this practice. First, because there are no other alcohol vendors and second, because the activists groups are funded based on the number of activists provided, not on the volume of alcohol sold.
As Dawn McAvoy, from Both Lives Matter has said: “This year if you want a drink, there is no choice other than to be ‘pro-choice’.”
“We all like to choose which charity or campaign our money goes to, as not every cause is equal. Perhaps it’s time for a bit more choice.”
The Abortion Rights lobby group has been involved with Workers Beer Co for a number of years, but it seems that many festival goers probably have no idea what they are inadvertently funding.
