Ballina's Christmas lights fail to bring festive cheer for everyone
Cllr Michael Loftus asked why there is not funding for festive lights in other towns such as his native Crossmolina.
Ballina will sparkle with Christmas lights this festive season as funding has been secured for the town’s lighting scheme.
The Ballina Lights Plan has been put out to tender and a specialist lighting company were awarded the contract.
At the October meeting of Ballina Municipal District, councillors heard that work to install the lights is due to begin at the end of this month. The plan will see the town's post office and civic offices decorated along with both bridges over the River Moy.
Funding for the lighting programme came from the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and Mayo County Council is looking into possible funding for additional lights in the town centre.
However, not all councillors in the municipal district were overcome with Christmas spirit, as Cllr Michael Loftus pointed out that other towns in the municipal area deserve to be considered for festive funding.
“Christmas lights... I laugh. Everything is revolved around Ballina. It’s not the only place in the area,” he said. “There's Crossmolina, Killala, Knockmore.”
Cllr Loftus described the amount of money directed towards Christmas lights in Ballina as “unbelievable”.
â “For the past few years I have heard nothing but ‘Ballina lights, Ballina lights’. We all love to see the lights up in Ballina, but let's be honest, when the GMA comes around I don’t want to see Ballina looking for more money with the amount they’ve got over the last three years,” he said.
â “There’s other areas in the municipal district that want a bit of funding as well.”
- Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
