RTÉ will switch off its Christmas lights for several hours a day during peak usage times as part of the State’s drive to save energy and avoid winter blackouts.
It includes Christmas lights around the campus, as well as on the iconic RTÉ communications mast.
RTÉ director general Dee Forbes told staff in an internal memo that the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Office of Public Works (OPW) had instructed public bodies to turn off the lights between 5pm and 7pm and from 11pm daily to save money and energy.
The public have expressed their upset with the move, with Green Party councillor Hazel Chu saying this instruction is “totally Scrooge-like”.
RTÉ confirmed the move, which it said came on foot of the SEAI and OPW campaign.
An email to the national broadcaster asked public sector bodies not to have external lights on between 5pm and 7pm to “reduce unnecessary lighting at other times.”
A spokesperson for the broadcaster said that it was in this context that Ms Forbes wrote to staff.
She told staff “This year, in keeping with the mandatory requirements from SEAI and the OPW as part of the Reduce Your Use energy efficiency campaign for public bodies, we will be turning off Christmas lighting on our Donnybrook campus between 5pm – 7pm and from 11.00pm daily throughout the Christmas period, with the exception of Late Late Toy Show day on Friday 25th November, when our Christmas lights will remain on until after the broadcast of the show.
“As you may be aware, the three lighting installations used for our Christmas lights on our Donnybrook campus – at the entrance, on the Television Building and on the mast – all use energy-saving LED light bulbs, as do our Christmas trees.”
Many other State bodies are also trying to cut their consumption.