Efforts underway to keep lights on in Mayo tourist town this Christmas

IT'S looking like the lights will be on in Westport this Christmas.

Efforts to deliver a festive lighting scheme were revealed at a local municipal district meeting this week.

In September, the local Chamber of Commerce issued an appeal for people to step forward and keep the town lit this Christmas.

With Destination Westport representatives in the room for their October district meeting, Councillor Peter Flynn said this was the first year none of the councillors have received a request for funding for Christmas lights.

As far as he was aware, there is no funding available right now and he asked council management what is the situation: “Are we going to have a dark Christmas in Westport?”

Hotelier Joe Corcoran, of the tourism promotion group Destination Westport, said he had been approached during the week and there is a group looking at it now, he believed.

Funding is an area and it should come from a central fund, he commented. But people are trying to do it on a voluntary basis where the lights rely on individual properties to come together, with professional people to support the work.

Hopefully there will be progress in the coming weeks and the lights will be on for Christmas, he said.

If the lights are taken care of, that is fantastic news, said Councillor Flynn.

* Funded under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme