Search
03 Oct 2025
Search
03 Oct 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
The famous Mountmellick Christmas tree has lit up for the 66th year.
The 60 foot tree in the Laois town is actually a metal structure with real branches, intricate light sequences and a huge crib underneath, all cared for by a local volunteer committee and Mountmellick Employment Resource workers.
This year many people chose to watch the lighting up moment online, and the committee have made this lovely video so everyone can share the magic moment.
The committee have also thanked a local woman who climbed up the tree personally this year to fix the lights.
Aoife Lynch is the daughter of Ger and niece of Brian, the two men who epitomise Christmas in Mountmellick having worked on the Christmas Tree and Santa's visit almost all of their lives, now both recently retired from their duties.
"As you know, we lit the tree on Friday night. However, now that Ger has retired, haven’t you wondered who is the wizard behind it? Well, if you pardon this pun “little apples don’t fall far from the tree”, because Aoife Lynch makes the magic happen these days. Yes, we have many other volunteers who help us, but it’s our committee member, Aoife who voluntarily constructed all the light sequences, even mending them once in situ (60 feet up- YIKES!). Though that’s quite a height to scale, she didn’t lick her fearlessness and determination off the ground (punny again, we know).
"So, we just felt like celebrating this woman. She’s so humble and self-deprecating, she will NOT be happy with us for shining a fairy light on her. We stopped short of a big pic of her, but look closely and you’ll see a specially commissioned little bauble with her masked face on it. Despite knowing her way around this tree, she can’t remove this one! Meas mór, Aoife and thanks from all of us!," the Mountmellick Christmas Tree committee said on their social media page.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
