€90m spent on trees, lights and decorations

A STAGGERING €90 million has been spent on buying and decorating real Christmas trees this year.

According to State-owned forestry organisation Coillte, up to 600,000 real Christmas trees were sold this December, while the Small Firms Association has estimated that to buy and decorate each tree costs about €150 on average. Multiplying the two figures together gives the possible maximum spend on Christmas trees.

A more conservative estimate from Coillte is that 450,000 trees were sold this year, although that still means €67.5m was spent on purchasing trees, fairy lights, baubles and other decorations.