Christmas lights work to begin

Around €1,000 worth of wiring and other items related to the Christmas Lights have to be replaced by Kilcullen Community Action, after they were stolen from their place of storage recently, writes Brian Byrne.

In a discussion about the lights project at the recent KCA meeting, chair Esther Kiely said the materials were stolen mainly for the copper wire content, which was probably worth only a fraction of what it will cost to replace them.

Work on setting up the lights for Christmas 2012 will begin this week.

The meeting heard that electricity costs for the lights over the last three years have totalled in the region of €3,300, a figure which includes standing charges for the distribution box and meter facilities used by the project.

Esther Kiely said that most people in the town probably believe that the electricity costs are paid for by Kildare County Council, but that is definitely not the case.

There was a general discussion on how best to cut the energy bill for the lights, but it was agreed that for this year the project would proceed in the usual way and a hard look would be taken at the situation in 2013.