As the cost of living crisis continues, there are plans to cut the amount of time Dublin city's Christmas lights stay on this festive season.
Last week, Minister Eamon Ryan said that councils are carefully considering their approach to the festive decorations this year as energy prices continue to soar, and said it is something the Government will "come back to" later in the year. He added: "I think local authorities are starting to look at that, they’re starting to consider every measure, but we’re not being prescriptive at that level yet."
Dublin Town erects the street lighting on behalf of the local businesses, while Dublin City Council provides the projections, which they say are now powered by hydrogenated vegetable oil generators. Each year Dublin Town spends €500,000 and six weeks erecting 5km of lights along up to 25 streets in the main shopping district of the city and this year will be no different, they promise.
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A spokesman for Dublin Town told Dublin Live that the Christmas lights they provide for the city are "highly energy efficient LED lights that are on time controlled clocks." According to Dublin Town, the entire Grafton Street display uses approximately "one-third of the energy" of a standard electric shower.
Dublin Town CEO Richard Guiney said that the past two years have seen children have their Christmas experience curtailed during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said: "We believe that it is important that memories are created and that people have a joyous festive season to look forward to.
"We are conscious of the displays’ low energy consumption and will consider the daily duration of the illumination, however, we have invested over the past 13 years in high quality, energy efficient lights that provide that additional sense of excitement throughout the city.
"The lights on our main streets have become iconic and we want to ensure that everyone has the chance to enjoy the city’s unique Christmas atmosphere at this special time of the year," he added. Mr Guiney also said that they are looking at reducing how long they stay lit each day.
He told 98fm: "Traditionally they would go on at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and stay until about 4 o'clock the following morning so we probably will reduce the hours so that they'll go on at say 4 o'clock in the afternoon and go off at 1 or 2 in the morning."
The Grafton Street and Henry Street lights stay on longer, although Mr Guiney said that they're unlikely to have them on in the early morning as usual this year. Dublin City Council recycle all materials and branding from year to year and store all the lighting in wooden crates each year and do not use any single use plastics.
They added: "Last year , all fossil based diesel generators were eliminated from Dublin Winter Lights. Instead hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) generators are now being used which result in a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions, and the fuel is completely biodegradable."
Read Next:
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