Dublin’s Christmas lights just went on TheJournal.ie

DUBLIN’S CHRISTMAS LIGHTS were lit by an 11-year-old girl at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, in a joint effort to raise money for the hospital and promote public support for Irish businesses this Christmas.

The lights on Grafton Street, Henry Street, South William Street, Capel Street and others came on as of 7pm tonight.

DublinTown hosted a live broadcast from the Bewleys Café balcony, broadcast on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

Symone, an 11-year-old from Co Westmeath, turned on the lights this year.

Simone at Temple Street Children’s Hospital.

Source: DublinTown

DublinTown, an initiative of downtown entrepreneurs, funds the lights every year.

Their Christmas lights consist of over 1 million energy efficient LED bulbs, with over 300,000 bulbs on Grafton Street alone and around 4km of lights in total.

Richard Guiney, DublinTown CEO, said: “The DublinTown Christmas lights are by far the most important task we undertake for our business members and the people of Dublin each year. 2020 has been an extremely challenging year for Dublin city center businesses.

DublinTown has shared that difficulty with our members. This year the installation of Christmas lights means much more than any other year and we ask people to come out and support downtown businesses at this special time. The stores have been preparing for Christmas and are ready to meet the needs and safety of customers.

See DublinatChristmas.ie and DublinTown.ie for more details.

Last week, the Cork City Council turned on its Christmas lights in cities and towns across the county to kick off its “A True Cork Christmas” initiative. This includes a campaign to encourage people to support local Cork businesses this holiday season.