DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL paid more than €100,000 to extend the annual Winter Lights festival until the end of January this year, figures released to The Journal show.

The festival sees numerous locations around the city lit up with colourful projections and lighting displays, including the Spire, prominent buildings like the GPO, city streets and some of the city’s bridges.

Figures show that the total cost for this year’s festival, which began in December, was €1.4 million – including €130,000 spent on extending the displays by four weeks.

The lights on O’Connell Street (which were located at the GPO, the Spire, and on statues and trees), the Samuel Beckett Bridge and the Millennium Bridge remained on, while those across the rest of the city were switched off as planned at the end of December.

Lord Mayor Daithí de Róiste explained the reason for the extension in early January, saying that “January is always a bit of a dreary month”.

“This year we’ve decided to leave some of the lights on for an extra few weeks to help cheer everyone up,” he said.