Mayo town's Christmas lights at risk without €40,000 upgrade

THE Christmas lights in a north Mayo town are at risk this year without a €40,000 investment to replace 30-year-old electrical infrastructure.

With Westport already facing the prospect of a dark Christmas, Erris Chamber of Commerce says the struggle there is one that communities in Erris have quietly carried for decades, and one that towns and villages right across Mayo will recognise.

For over 30 years, the Christmas lights in Belmullet, Bangor Erris and smaller villages across the region have been funded entirely by local businesses, volunteers and the community. Each year the cost of installation, electrician, insurance, maintenance and replacement lights comes to approximately €20,000, with every cent raised locally.

On top of these running costs, the electrical infrastructure behind the Belmullet lights is now more than 30 years old and is failing. It was patched together to get the town through Christmas 2025, but replacing the main electrical feed will cost around €40,000, a capital cost that no amount of local fundraising can cover.

Without that investment, the Belmullet Christmas lights are at risk this year, the Chamber has warned.

Westport's Christmas lights were traditionally funded by the town council over the years. Westport Chamber agreed in 2024 to share responsibility for transitioning the lighting from the council, and last year area councillors pledged €18,000 in support through their General Municipal Allocation (GMA) funding.

Westport and Belmullet sit in the same municipal district, but the north Mayo town's only council support has come from GMA allocations from Councillors Gerry Coyle and Sean Carey.

Brian Bakeberg, president of Erris Chamber of Commerce, said: “What Westport Chamber has described this year, the constant knocking on doors and asking the same businesses for money time after time, is exactly what Erris has been doing for more than 30 years, and we have done it without a single euro from the council.

“Our businesses pay commercial rates like everyone else in Mayo. We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking to be treated the same as every other town in the county.”

In February, Erris Chamber wrote to Dara Calleary, in his capacity as Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, seeking €40,000 in capital funding to replace the main electrical feed for the Belmullet lights. The Chamber advised that without this investment, Belmullet would face a Christmas without lights in 2026.

“We raised the alarm in February, with a clear figure and a clear deadline,” said Mr. Bakeberg. “We are still waiting. We remain hopeful of a positive response, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with the minister and his department to make sure Erris, as a Gaeltacht community, receives the same support as other towns in Mayo.”

Erris Chamber believes the problem is not unique to Erris or Westport. Across Mayo, almost every town and village depends on the goodwill of local businesses and volunteers to light up its streets each Christmas. The same small group of traders are approached year after year, often by the same handful of volunteers, with no consistent or fair system of support behind them.

“Talk to any chamber or community group in Mayo and you will hear the same story,” said Mr. Bakeberg. “Businesses who are already paying significant commercial rates are being asked, every single year, to fund the lights as well. Volunteers are worn out.

“Westport has simply said publicly what many towns have been living with for a very long time.”

Mr. Bakeberg added that the lights are about far more than decoration. “In rural areas like Erris, the Christmas lights bring families into the town, support local shops and hospitality at the most important trading time of the year, and welcome home the many people who return for Christmas. A dark town is a closed town.”

Elsewhere in north Mayo, Ballina's volunteer lights committee has been allocated €300,000 from the Department of Rural and Community Development's Town and Village Renewal Scheme to upgrade lighting infrastructure across the town. Erris Chamber congratulated Ballina on that success, which shows what is possible when a community is properly supported.

Erris Chamber is calling on Mayo County Council to:

* Ringfence a portion of commercial rates to fund festive lighting in every town and village in the county, not only the larger centres.

* Allocate GMA funding to Erris Christmas lighting on the same basis as Westport, within the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District.

* Support applications from Erris and other towns under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme for festive lighting infrastructure.

* Engage directly with the chambers, community and business groups who currently carry the full cost and workload of the lights.

Erris Chamber says it would welcome working with other chambers and community groups throughout the county to find a lasting, fair solution.

“Erris has shown for over 30 years that it will not let the lights go out,” said Mr. Bakeberg. “But no community in Mayo should have to fight this battle alone, year after year, while paying the same rates as everyone else.

“Every town in Mayo deserves the same chance to shine.”