diff --git a/container/es-releases.json b/container/es-releases.json
index d60c7ac..7f00623 100755
--- a/container/es-releases.json
+++ b/container/es-releases.json
@@ -1,16 +1,25 @@
 {
   "release": {
-       "2.0.1.0" :{
+       "2.0.1.0" : {
           "sparkversion": "2.4.6",
            "sparkclient": "repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/ibm/event/ibm-db2-eventstore-client-spark-2.4.6/2.0.1.0/ibm-db2-eventstore-client-spark-2.4.6-2.0.1.0.jar",
            "hadoopversion":"2.6",
-           "scopt211version":"3.5.0"
+           "scopt211version":"3.5.0",
+           "kafkatag":"v2.0.1.0"
           } ,
        "2.0.0.5" : {
           "sparkversion": "2.2.1",
            "sparkclient": "repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/ibm/event/ibm-db2-eventstore-client-spark-2.2.1/2.0.0/ibm-db2-eventstore-client-spark-2.2.1-2.0.0.jar",
            "hadoopversion":"2.6",
-           "scopt211version":"3.5.0"
+           "scopt211version":"3.5.0",
+           "kafkatag":"v2.0.0.5"
+          } ,
+       "dev" : {
+          "sparkversion": "2.4.6",
+           "sparkclient": "repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/ibm/event/ibm-db2-eventstore-client-spark-2.4.6/2.0.1.0/ibm-db2-eventstore-client-spark-2.4.6-2.0.1.0.jar",
+           "hadoopversion":"2.6",
+           "scopt211version":"3.5.0",
+           "kafkatag":"dev"
           }
-   }
+       }
 }
diff --git a/container/setup/setup-container.sh b/container/setup/setup-container.sh
index 05c5479..e96fac1 100755
--- a/container/setup/setup-container.sh
+++ b/container/setup/setup-container.sh
@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ USER_VOLUME=/root/user_volume
 # set the version variables
 SPARK_VERSION=$(jq -r .release.${ES_VERSION}.sparkversion $USER_VOLUME/es-releases.json)
 SPARK_CLIENT=$(jq -r .release.${ES_VERSION}.sparkclient $USER_VOLUME/es-releases.json)
+KAFKA_TAG=$(jq -r .release.${ES_VERSION}.kafkatag $USER_VOLUME/es-releases.json)
 
 # Setup java/scala/python/kafka/rest/spark
 ${SETUP_AREA}/setup-java.sh
 ${SETUP_AREA}/setup-scala.sh
 ${SETUP_AREA}/setup-python.sh
-${SETUP_AREA}/setup-kafka.sh
+${SETUP_AREA}/setup-kafka.sh $KAFKA_TAG
 ${IOT_REPO_PATH}/rest/install.sh
 ${SETUP_AREA}/setup-spark.sh $SPARK_VERSION
 
diff --git a/container/setup/setup-kafka.sh b/container/setup/setup-kafka.sh
index 3b7ef85..b7e80f1 100755
--- a/container/setup/setup-kafka.sh
+++ b/container/setup/setup-kafka.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,16 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 ##
-## kafka
+## kafka git repository has been tagged with release to ensure correct ibm-event.jar file is used
 ##
 
+
+# set passed kafka tag value
+KAFKA_TAG=${1}
+
 cd ~
-git clone https://github.com/IBMProjectEventStore/db2eventstore-kafka.git
+git clone -b $KAFKA_TAG --single-branch https://github.com/IBMProjectEventStore/db2eventstore-kafka.git
 cd ~/db2eventstore-kafka
 sbt clean
 sbt compile
 sbt package assembly
-echo "Kafka setup finished."
\ No newline at end of file
+echo "Kafka setup finished."