WHILE THE council has invested quite a large sum of money in Christmas this year with the purchase of new Christmas lights, there was perhaps one noticeable omission from the festivities at this year’s big Christmas Switch On in Market Square on Saturday – a Christmas Tree!

In recent months, an additional investment of €25,000 was made in purchasing additional Christmas street lights for Irish Street, Templeshannon and Barrack Street, however, a number of locals took to social media to vent their fury that there was no traditional Christmas tree erected in Market Square.

“They paid a small fortune for lights and made a great hullabloo over them and now they’ll have lights but no tree,” one local commented. “Call me silly, but Christmas spirit is greatly lacking if the idea of an over-priced santy is the essence of the town’s Christmas spirit.”

District Manager Pádraig O’Gorman said that he was aware that there were some complaints regarding the lack of a tree in the square, but that there were several other trees around town.

“I heard a few people saying this alright, but there are at least ten different Christmas trees lit up across the town,” he said. “There used to be one in Market Square, but there wasn’t last year or this year to make room for children’s activities. Last year we had a carousel for children in the square and this year we have a woman setting up a bungee trampoline that needs to stay there. Maybe it’s the lack of that one tree that some people are unhappy about, but there are ten more around town.”

Various local commentators, however, questioned the Christmas Spirit of the Enniscorthy council for not placing a traditional tree in the Market Square and accused them of putting financial gain first.

Santa Claus switching on the Christmas Lights in the Market Square, Enniscorthy. Pic: John Walsh