The festival at Birtrange Castle has been making a number of headlines recently.

The music festival planned at the beginning of August has provoked a number of questions as concerns the potential damaging impact it may have on the environment. Roughly 2,500 attendees are expected, although it is worth noting that while this is indeed the number of invitations sent out, only around 70% tend to turn up.

In that regard, Ministers Sam Tanson (Minister for Culture) and Carole Dieschbourg (Minister for the Environment) have responded to half a dozen questions Christian Social People's Party MPs Martine Hansen and Nancy Kemp-Arendt put forth.

Firstly, the ministers specified that the festival’s organisers were given the go-ahead on the 10 July, under 15 conditions: these include ensuring that there are enough portaloos, regulating car and caravan parking, reducing the music volume after midnight and a 1am curfew.

In terms of the castle as a site of cultural heritage, the organisers lamented the fact that the Minister for Culture did not initiate contact during the preparation period, however since this had now been done, the seven different requirements to protect the site had been met.

Ministers and Tanson conceded that there may well be other locations better suited to housing an event of that scale, however their decision to grant their permission lay in the application conforming to the Nature Conservation Act and the organisers meeting the necessary preconditions.

As to the matter of the castle’s purpose, the government had no say in the matter since the building was private property belonging to the Red Cross. Furthermore, the government was also not interested in purchasing the site from the municipality of Schieren.