Christmas lights fund confirmed for towns and villages

The Christmas lights allocations for towns and villages across the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District (MKMD) have been announced.

Out of the allocation of €58,300, the largest grant is to the Mullingar Lights Committee (c/o Mullingar Chamber), which received €34,000 in 2025 and is to receive the same amount this year.

The next largest allocations are to Castlepollard Christmas Lighting and Kinnegad Action Group/Community Council, which are to receive €5,500 each, unchanged from last year. The Delvin Christmas Lights Committee is to receive €2,500, and Killucan Rathwire Tidy Towns is to receive €2,000.

Allocations of €1,000 each have been made to Clonmellon Community Council, Coole Tidy Towns, Finea Tidy Towns, Milltownpass Tidy Towns, Raharney Tidy Towns, Streete Tidy Towns and Whitehall Community Group.

Crookedwood Village Association is to receive €800, and Multyfarnham Tidy Towns and Drumcree Tidy Towns are each allocated €500.

Announcing the amounts to members of the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District at their October meeting, Annette Barr-Jordan, senior executive officer with Westmeath County Council’s Community and Enterprise section, said that the only applicants who received less funding than they received for Christmas 2025 were those who applied for a smaller amount than last year.

In addition, there were three of last year’s recipients who did not apply this year: “We went back to them and asked them, you know, do you want any money this year or what’s the story?

“And so Fore, Collinstown and Rochfortbridge are three that haven’t been allocated money on the basis that they said they didn’t want any money allocated to them,” Ms Barr-Jordan said.

However, she continued, the district has set aside some funding in case any of those groups change their minds.

Cllr Emily Wallace suggested that the council write to Electric Ireland and ask it to subsidise the cost of the electricity required to run Christmas lights. She said the firm has provision for community funding and is in profit: “So let them put their hand in their pocket and show their thanks for their communities that pay their ESB bills and get them lit up for Christmas.”

Electricity bills aren’t an issue in Delvin, however, according to Cllr David Jones: “People say: ‘Sure run an extension through my window’,” he said, adding that the biggest cost is in hiring an electrical contractor to do the installation.

The mayor, Cllr Niall Gaffney, said the difference the MKMD allocation makes to the groups running Christmas lighting programmes was “really positive”, and he noted that two years ago, the council had increased the budget for communities by approximately €12,500.

Supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme