Christmas lights get €20,000
WICKLOW Municipal District will contribute €20,000 toward Christmas lights in Wicklow Town this Christmas.
However, some elected members advised Wicklow and District Chamber, who organise the Christmas lights, to also seek out other avenues of funding.
The Cathaoirleach of Wicklow Municipal District, Cllr Shay Cullen commented: ‘We have always been very supportive of the Christmas lights. However, there have been successful applications from other groups in our district through LEADER funding and I would be surprised and disappointed if Wicklow hadn’t applied, especially as we were asked for a raise in the €20,000 last year. I think we might be taken a little bit for granted because we always give €20,000.’
Cllr Irene Winters said it should be noted that rates in Wicklow town had been increased to cover a contribution to the Christmas lights.
‘This is the first year rates equalisation isn’t in place but rate payers paid their rates, plus a fee for the Christmas lights. The rate payers paid that to the old Wicklow Town Council and it was spread across all the businesses, rather than just the same few businesses making the contribution coming up to Christmas each year.’
Cllr John Snell has been an elected public representative since 2009 and estimated that the local authority had provided around €2000,000 in funding for Christmas lights in Wicklow town during that time.
He said: ‘I think €20,000 a year is more than enough to light up Wicklow town at Christmas time. I fully support the funding we allocate but as a Municipal District we have to be mindful of the fact that we have other villages and towns in our district.’
Cllr Gail Dunne said: ‘They need to exhaust every opportunity to get funds from elsewhere. If there are other areas of funding then they should be looking at it.’