€120k Christmas lights upgrade for Mullingar

There are plans for a €120,000 upgrade of the Christmas lights in Mullingar ahead of this year’s festive season.

The project was mentioned by Westmeath County Council director of services Barry Kehoe during Wednesday’s meeting of the council’s economic, enterprise and tourism committee.

He explained that the Mullingar Christmas Lights Group had put together a plan “to improve and co-ordinate the provision of Christmas lighting in the town,” and that LEADER funding was currently being sought for this.

Mr Kehoe said it was hoped that LEADER would provide 75% of the funding for the project, local businesses would contribute 12.5%, and the remaining 12.5% would come from the council’s business promotion fund.

As the council’s contribution would come to more than €14,000, he suggested it should be rounded up to €15,000.

“I think this is a very good project, because we need to have very good quality Christmas lighting to attract people into the town at Christmas time. That’s what they expect,” said Mr Kehoe.

The council’s contribution was unanimously approved at the meeting, which also received a presentation from the new president of Mullingar Chamber of Commerce, John Geoghegan, on the work that’s currently being undertaken on behalf of its 140 members.