Just Give Me The Light

The Enlightment Brothers 30OCT20

eing neighbours, it was an easy decision for Leo Ireton and Gearoid McKenna to set up shop together.

Leo has the 19th century premises, and Gearoid the bright lights and starry vision to make the place truly sparkle.

It was back in November 2016 that Leo called time on Greystones’ oldest shop, but since then, the wily pensioner (who still lives in the historic building) has swung open its doors for the very special and extremely odd occasion.

Such as that annual mince pies and mulled wine Christmas knees up for his fellow Burnaby residents.

Leo’s latest adventure is another Christmas affair, of sorts, given that Gearoid McKenna has been basking in the world of light and magic for the past 40 years. Designing and installing lighting systems for bridges, public squares and office buildings (such as that fancy new Google makeover of Boland Mills) for most of his life, it was only recently that Gearoid decided to open up a showroom and retail outlet for his TaskLED company over in Eden Gate.

Pulling together all those decades of experience, and the very latest developments in shadows and light for both inside and outside the home, Gearoid gets just as excited about a remote control, multi-coloured bulb for a teenager’s bedroom (just €10.50, bargain fans) as he does about a music-triggered strip lights and his top-of-the-range selection of Christmas lights that are built to last (and extend) far beyond Santa’s normal expectations.

There’s nothing disposable here. Or badly designed.

With Gearoid’s brother Ronan currently pulling together all of TaskLED’s groovy lighting goodies (including some Fantasy Lights favourites) for an online gallery and nephew Jake on front-of-house duties, Gearoid is quick to point out that they’ve kept their prices as low as even Jeff Bezos can offer. “Mainly because domestic lighting isn’t our main business,” he explains, “we can afford to keep everything here – from household bulbs on up – right down to the minimum online price. To be honest, I just get a kick out of bringing all these incredible finds to people…”

Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sundays from 12pm to 5pm, TaskLED Essential Lighting will be at Leo Ireton’s old shop until Christmas Eve. With, weather and restrictions permitting, even the odd mulled wine and mince shindig outside as the big day approaches.

In the meantime, we  managed to grab five minutes with the man himself and the man upstairs to find out how this fine bromance came to be…

You can find out more about TaskLED here, and get in touch on [email protected] or 012870528. You can also learn more about the mighty Leo Ireton here.