Christmas lights blackout threat lifted

Date Published: 13-Nov-2009

GALWAY’S Christmas lights will be switched on this year after all. They may not be as plentiful as in previous year, but the threat of a festive blackout has been lifted after more city centre businesses dug into their pockets.

There had been fears last week that there would be a Christmas lights blackout this year because of a shortfall of funds available to the Galway City Business Association – the shortfall is down to a number of businesses not paying their contributions towards the lights.

The Mayor of Galway, Declan McDonnell who is the Co-ordinator of the GCBA, says that four to five businesses on nearly all of the city centre streets still owe for last year’s Christmas lights.

A number of years ago, at the height of the Celtic Tiger, the GCBA decided that they would take responsibility for putting up the plight. New lights were purchased, largely with funding of around €400,000 from Galway City Council which continues to erect the giant Christmas Tree at Eyre Square.

Cllr McDonnell explained that in the past week alone, a number of businesses had paid their arrears but that there were still a number of defaulters. This was due to efforts by a number of key retailers in the city who got proactive into collecting the arrears.

“Now, more than ever in these recessionary times, it is more important to erect Christmas lights and make the place festive to attract customers into the city centre.

“There are 18,000 people working in the hospitality and retail sectors in Galway and if we shop local it will not only generate business but save jobs.

“It is great to see that a number of the key businesses in the city have decided to take action to ensure that there will be lights in the city this year. The lights may not be as extensive as in previous years, but they will still be impressive.”

Michael Coyle, CEO of Galway Chamber has called on the Council to consider making a provision in their budget for Christmas lighting to ease the burden on local businesses. He is suggesting putting aside 0.2% of commercial rates collected in the city towards next year’s lighting – he said the erection of lights was a civic responsibility as well as a commercial one.

Joe MacGrath, City Manager, stressed that the agreement between the City Council and the GCBA was that the Council would make a capital contribution towards the purchase of lights.

“This agreement was made on the understanding that the business community though the GCBA would fund the yearly maintenance and installation costs. We have honoured this agreement by making substantial capital contributions towards the lights over successive years,” he said.