Electrical outages and lack of lighting contributing to below-par Christmas experience for Wexford town shoppers

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

A lack of lighting is contributing to a below-par Christmas experience for shoppers in Wexford town this year according to councillors and local officials.

With consumers repeatedly encouraged to shop local at this time of years there are fears that those visiting the town are being left underwhelmed by the festive layout and lighting on its main thoroughfares.

“Especially around South Main Street there are gaps in lighting,” said Councillor Leonard Kelly at the December meeting of the Wexford Borough. “We’ve just hosted two Fleadhs and we’re talking about tourism being an economic driver so we need more resources to improve the shopping experience for visitors.”

As ever, the problem lies in funding.

At Wexford County Council’s (WCC) budget meeting last month, Cllr Robbie Staples discussed possible sources of revenue with director of finance Lynda Lacey and had been informed that lighting was tied into the budget for festivals. However, Cllr Biddy Walsh said there was one other funding stream which could be utilised more effectively.

“I don’t think it’s a budgetary issue, it’s something the council and the traders need to discuss,” she said. “We need to try and build a dynamic where we can get more money in from the traders. This will bring them more business. Some of the lights aren’t working at all, the ones between Henrietta and Anne St don’t work, there’s no lights there and it’s absolutely awful.”

District manager Anthony Bailey said he had recently carried out an audit of the lighting throughout the town and identified a number of areas which could be improved.

“We’ve been firefighting a bit over the last number of years.” he admitted. “We have 22 lighting panels in total and I have identified 12 areas where more could go in. In terms of outages, the rain and wind hasn’t helped there.”

Paying tribute to the work of the local men’s sheds, Mr Bailey said some traders were more committed to the cause than others.

“There’s room for improvement in terms of lights and the retailers contribution to the Christmas experience in the town, it’s the same members who are digging deep every year,” he said.