WITH an estimated €30,000 spent by the Council last month on Christmas trees, lights, and road closures on The Crescent, where Mayor John Moran owns a building housing a luxury co-living space, councillors expressed grave concerns for Limerick festivals into the future.
Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely suggested that the trees must have been “made of gold” during this Monday’s Metropolitan District meeting, when Council members had the opportunity to ask question around the costings for Christmas 2024 in Limerick.
Priomh Chomhairleoir of Limerick City and County Council, Cllr Dan McSweeney, wanted clarification in relation to some of the local authority’s spending.
“We spent €9,550 on Christmas trees across the city and €15,000 for Christmas tree installation. We spent €20,887 in and around the Crescent road closure and activities up there, but that doesn’t include any of the Christmas trees or installation. We also had a traffic management plan for Cruises Street which is pedestrianised,” Cllr McSweeney told the meeting.
Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan told the Council executive that every year she has people contacting her to say “this is the worst Christmas” they ever had.
“Since I became a councillor in 2019, I have to admit, it’s gotten progressively worse. And that’s really embarrassing for a lot of us here,” Cllr O’Donovan commented.
She wanted to know if the €5,000 expenditure for Toots the Train, which cancelled at the eleventh hour, had been paid out, and when the Council would get the money back if so.
“This is alarming. We are not learning any lessons. This is taxpayers’ money that is being used. We gave money to a ghost train that didn’t show up,” the City West representative fumed.
Cllr Kiely felt Council members were left with more questions than answers, noting: “I do see as well that €1,600 was spent on a Santa’s Grotto for half a day. I’ll dress up as Santa, if you like, and do it for half that price.”
“With the trees up at the Crescent costing 10 grand for a tree, they must be made of gold,” she insisted.
Cllr Daniel Butler (FG) was equally unimpressed, deeming the tree expenditure “bananas”, adding that there was spending of “€1,600 for a grotto for a couple of hours, it’s just incredible stuff.”
“If it was a private business, they’d be up and gone out of business for investing that much money for that level of return.”
Cllr Butler stated that money was “wasted left, right, and centre” on the Christmas in Limerick budget, stating “we could have done a hell of a lot more with it”.
“I will give you one example – we gave €5,000 to the Milk Market, a measly €5,000, and we spent over €30,000 up in the Crescent. The most Christmassy vibe is found at the Milk Market. Imagine what they could have done with that?”
Cllr Butler deemed Limerick City and County Council “last minute dot com” when it comes to festivals, claiming they should be doing more to secure value for money and decent acts.
“We have absolutely thrown money away on this. Investing in Christmas is usually valuable, but not when you throw it away like this,” he hit out.
“We are in trouble guys, we are in a heap of trouble. We can’t do a Riverfest. We can’t do Christmas. Yet we’re going to expect to host a major international event with the Ryder Cup. Unless something changes radically, Limerick is in a heap of trouble.”