Christmas lights in Athlone cost 'the bones of €25,000'

Christmas lights in Athlone cost “the bones of €25,000” to put up, take down, and power for the duration of the festive season, it's been revealed.

Director of Services, Barry Kehoe divulged the figures when responding to a query from Green Cllr Louise Heavin about the €30,000 allocated for festive lights in the 2021 draft budget plan for the Athlone-Moate Municipal District.

Noting there was a big capital cost on lights in Athlone last year, Cllr Heavin asked at what point does that figure start going down? Declaring it “a huge sum,” she said it would be far better spent on street enhancement with so many areas “in desperate need of footpaths, trees, and landscaping.”

However, Cllr Frankie Keena had the opposing view, saying that the Christmas lights in Athlone were a great success last year and without the funding provided by the council they would not be going up at all.

Fine Gael's John Dolan asked if the €30,000 budgeted for Christmas lights extends further than Athlone as other areas need support too.

Explaining the €30,000 set aside for lights, Director of Services, Barry Kehoe said it is envisaged that the council will contribute to various towns and villages in the district who traditionally put up lights in their areas which accounts for around €5,000. The remainder, “the bones of €25,000” is used to put up, take down, and pay the electricity costs for the Athlone lights over the Christmas period.

Mr Kehoe said their objective is to have good lights in the town, saying there was a capital investment last year, also supported by Leader money.

It's planned to continue to put up the lights in Athlone and support that with funding unless members decide against it, he ended.