Kilkenny born sculptor Patrick O’Reilly has come up with the idea of illuminating the Poolbeg chimneys. O’Reilly recently brought Bertrand Chiron the General Manager of Bideau, the company who created the installation of lights for the Eiffel Tower, to view the chimneys.

It is estimated that the installation would cost in the region of €1 million and talks are currently taking place with the Dublin City Council and the ESB.

The idea is to light the chimneys for ten minutes every hour, so sometimes they would be visible and sometimes not. The lights would be invisible by day.

Rosita Boland of the ‘Irish Times’ interviewed O’Reilly and he is quoted as saying “People remember things better when they don’t see them all the time; it’s more of a surprise. And then, maybe they could be lit all night in celebration of special events.”

O’Reilly hopes that funding would come from the ESB and points out that it couldn’t be a better ad for an electricity board! After all, O’Reilly says, the ESB are only caretakers for the chimneys, they are owned by the State and ultimately by ourselves.

The two chimneys are always a welcome sight when returning to Dublin by air. Would the welcome be even more special if they were lit up like two giant Christmas trees? What do you think?