The fear that there would be no festive streetlights in Ballinasloe has been averted – and the good news is that the town will, as usual, be all bright for Christmas!

The fear has arisen because of a struggle to find electrical contractors to erect them – but now Lyn Donnelly of Ballinasloe Area Community Development (BACD) has confirmed that a contractor, Phillip Ward from Ballyforan, has taken on the project.

And she also confirmed that while costs have increased, the business contribution will remain the same.

Since BACD took over the installation of the Christmas lights back in 2015, they employed a local contactor to carry the installation – but they weren’t in a position to do the works this year.

So the organisers put out an SOS call on social media after trying numerous local contractors.

“We got a phenomenal response with the post going viral, and have had a good number of enquires and people volunteering their time and expertise to get the lights up this year,” said Lyn.

“We explored getting volunteers to assist, but unfortunately, our insurance company completely shut that down and will not insure anyone to assist with the lights in any capacity and will only allow us to employ a fully certified and insured contractor to carry out the works,” she confirmed.

She offered ‘a huge thank you to everyone who responded to our recent SOS for an electrical contractor’.

“Installation and insurance costs are unfortunately higher than previous years, bringing our total budget to approximately €32,000.

“While this adds pressure, we’re determined to make it work and with your continued support, we will”, she informed the business community in Ballinasloe.

The Christmas light sub-committee in Ballinasloe is made up of James Burke, Colm Croffy, Lyn Donnelly, Seamus Duffy, Martina Flanagan, Carmel Greally, Claire Healy, Shane McNeill and Julie Sheridan.

Pictured: Lyn Donnelly of Ballinasloe Community Area Development (BACD).