Christmas lights in Westport to cost €60,000

THE lighting up of Westport for Christmas time is expected to cost €60,000 this year. 

Councillors from the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District have been asked to support the funding of the Christmas lights through their General Municipal Allocation (GMA), should they be re-elected.

Cllr Peter Flynn said there were ‘serious question marks’ over whether publicly-funded Christmas lights would return to Westport this year and called for the next council to support the town’s Christmas lights.

The Fine Gael councillor said that Christmas lighting in the town had been ‘a shambles’ prior to the local representatives providing funding.

“We now have some of the best Christmas lights in the country,” he commented.

“Cllr Flynn said committing to funding the lights for the 2024 seasons was ‘the least’ the new council could do for businesses affected by the rates increases and local children.

“I don’t know whether I’m going to be re-elected or not. I think it’s regrettable. Are we in a situation where we’re effectively going to cancel Christmas in November/December because we don’t have the funding in place?” he added.

Padraic Walsh, Head of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, said the costs of the Christmas lights were due to inflation, transportation and hiring a qualified electrician to install them.

Admitting that it was ‘strange in a warm May day to be talking about Christmas lights’, Mr Walsh told the meeting that there was currently €20,000 in GMA funding available to fund the lights.

Cllr Flynn reiterated his concern and asked where the funding would come from given that the sitting councillors had no more funding left to allocate before the election.

“I would hope that the members who are around will support the Christmas lighting offering,” said Mr Walsh.

“I wouldn’t like to contemplate the consequences if we don’t, which clearly means we’ll have to cut back from the displays that’s there for people to enjoy.”

Cllr Christy Hyland said he ‘would not be found wanting’ to fund the Westport Christmas lights if re-elected.

The Independent councillor added that towns and villages in the Westport Electoral Area who received no public funding for Christmas lights felt ‘hard done by’.

“We have Louisburgh, we have Newport, we have Aughagower, we have Murrisk, we have numerous places, and they feel hard done by, let’s be honest,” he said.

“This is our leading town, but we can’t ignore the other towns.”

Cllr John O’Malley echoed Cllr Hyland’s concerns about other towns not receiving funding for Christmas lights.

“You’re not actually getting a road, you’re not getting anything done, you are just getting the lights put up and taken down,” said the Cllr O’Malley. “I think it’s an awful lot of money and I think we’ll have to look at that. Are we that rich that we can afford that?”

Erris-based Fine Gael councillor Gerry Coyle dismissed the subject matter entirely.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that we’re discussing Christmas lights. None of us know will we be elected…We’re talking about spending €60,000 on Christmas lights in the middle of June [May]. It’s off the radar,” he said.

“We’ve 1,001 things to look at besides Christmas lights.”