By Jade Carpenter

Every year Dublin city looks forward to the moment when the Christmas lights are mounted, and wait in anticipation for the November date when they light up the city with a festive glow.

This year however, the lights set up on Grafton street caused a bit of a stir with the locals as well as many social media users. The addition of a sign that reads Welcome to Grafton Quarter can now be seen at either end of the street, and has left many confused.

The lights are erected by Dublin town, who receive a sum of money from Dublin City Council for the display. Dublin City Council’s south east area office contributed an estimated €7,500 to the Christmas lighting and decoration of this area this year, €1000 more than was spent in 2018 according to information released under the Freedom of Information Act to TheCity.ie.

“The City Council was not consulted about the new sign and we did not approve it especially given the absence of any Irish content”

In previous years, the sign that took this position read Nollaig Shona Duit. Many people have expressed disappointment in the lack of Irish language in this year’s display. A representative for the Chief Executive of Dublin City Council told TheCity.ie: “The City Council was not consulted about the new sign and we did not approve it especially given the absence of any Irish content… we understand that the matter is going to be reviewed by Dublin Town in 2021.”

The Grafton quarter website run by Dublin Town describe the meaning of the area of Grafton Quarter: “Stretching from the entrance of St. Stephen’s Green at Grafton Street to Nassau Street over to Dawson Street”. Dublin Town did not respond to requests for comment on this topic.

Despite the controversy it seems the sign is staying put this Christmas, although its fate can’t be certain for next year.