'I know I’m talking about Christmas in August, but you have to plan': Calls for power to light up tree in Cork park

A Cork city councillor has called for power to be installed at a northside park in order to facilitate Christmas lights and community events.

Sinn Féin’s Kenneth Collins told The Echo: “The community are looking for power to be put into Gerry O’Sullivan Park so they can plug in the lights for the Christmas tree planted there.”

Cork City Council installed lights on the douglas fir tree in the park for Christmas 2023 following a request from Mr Collins at the time.

David Joyce, the then director of services in the council’s roads and environment operations directorate, confirmed at the time that Cork City Council would install Christmas lights on the tree, saying that they will be battery operated, as there is “no accessible power” at the location.

Mr Collins said: “Now, I’m calling on Cork City Council to install power units there ahead of the upcoming Christmas.

“There’s a perfect tree planted in the park that looks very well when lit up, everybody compliments it, but it’s currently on batteries and has to be recharged every two days. It makes more sense to just have power in the park.

“There are a lot of community events in the Gerry O’Sullivan Park too, so the power would help in other ways.

“One example is the family fun days organised by Cork City Partnership; they normally use generators, but it would help the environment if they could just plug into units.”

He explained that most areas in the city where there are Christmas trees have power already, and said that bringing electricity to Gerry O’Sullivan Park is “backed by all community groups”.

“I know I’m talking about Christmas in August, but you have to plan these things. In September when council returns, I’ll also be asking if the council are committed to running the Christmas fair again.”

Mr Collins, who proposed the event last year, said: “It was an amazing event, fantastic feedback across the board.

“It was great seeing the fire brigade and loads of other groups there, it that really brought the magic of Cork alive last year for all the children, and I was delighted to have been a part of that.”