Proposal for multinational firms to help fund Athlone-area Christmas lights
With over two-thirds of the annual Christmas lights budget for the Athlone Moate Municipal District being allocated to funding the festive lights in Athlone, Westmeath County Council has been urged to seek donations for the lighting from multinational companies which have a local presence in the greater Athlone area.
The suggestion came from Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran at the November meeting amid a wide-ranging discussion on the 2024 Christmas Lights Grant. During the meeting criticism was levelled at the council executive for the small sums of money being allocated for the lights in other areas of the municipal district.
The meeting heard that the Athlone Festivals & Events Project Group is to receive €34,000 from the council this year towards the cost of funding the Christmas lights display in the town, having received an allocation of €19,177 last year.
The total budget for Christmas lights across the county is €95,000, which is divided equally between two municipal districts.
While the meeting agreed on the importance of Athlone being showcased in what was described by Cllr Frankie Keena as “the best light possible” when it comes to its festive lighting display, members from other towns and villages in the district bemoaned the lack of funding being advanced towards their areas.
Cllr Tom Farrell said €1,670 has already been spent in Moate on Christmas lights so far this year, and he said the volunteers who work so hard on an annual basis to light up the town for Christmas “deserve at least another €1,000” from the council, rather than the €500 increase they had been allocated.
“The greenway is going to be lit up and the group have to buy steel poles, and all these extra lights cost more money,” he added.
Cllr Johnny Penrose was delighted to see Dysart included in the list of areas to receive €450 for their Christmas lights this year, as they “never got funding before,” while other local areas to receive modest increases in their existing budget were Ballinahown, Coosan, Rosemount and Tubberclair (up from €350 to €450), along with Baylin, Castledaly, Glasson, Horseleap/Streamstown, Mount Temple and Tang (all up from €500 to €650).
Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran said it was “time to get serious” about the issue of Christmas lighting, and he claimed that the “half the lights in Athlone are lit and the other half are not lit” every year.
He floated the idea of a “three-person committee” of councillors being established to examine the whole issue of Christmas lights for next year, and proposed that the council “reach out to the multinationals” and seek a meeting with them to see if they might like to get involved in funding the festive lighting.
In seconding Cllr Moran's proposal, Cllr John Dolan said there are “plenty of profitable companies” operating in Athlone town and the surrounding area, and he didn't think it would be a big thing for them to “write a cheque”.
Cllr Liam McDaniel said he was “not begrudging Athlone” its large allocation of funding under the Christmas Lights Grant Scheme for this year, but he added that all the smaller towns and village across the district deserved funding too.
“We said it last year and now here we are saying the very same thing again this year,” he added.
Cllr Frankie Keena said he is a member of the Athlone Festival & Events Project Group, which is a local community group made up of volunteers who look after the Christmas lights display in the town each year.
Cllr Keena complimented all the rural communities across the municipal district for the efforts they make to create a festive atmosphere with their lighting displays, but he urged members to “be realistic” in terms of the cost of putting up festive lights in a town the size of Athlone, and said he agreed with the proposal for a voluntary contribution from local companies.
In response to Cllr Keena's comments, Cllr 'Boxer' Moran quickly replied, “we agree with you and we applaud all voluntary committees.”
Council Director of Services, Ambrose Clarke, sounded a word of caution about the idea of getting contributions from local companies by saying that it is “very difficult” to get funding from the private sector.
The council executive did, however, give a guarantee to members that rural areas would be prioritised for increases in their Christmas lights funding allocations when the Christmas Light Grant Scheme comes up for discussion next year.