Limerick Council criticised for AI‑generated Christmas video

Limerick City and County Council’s AI‑generated Christmas promotional video for 2026 drew unanimous criticism from Metropolitan District councillors at their Monday meeting.

The computer‑generated video, posted on the council’s social media over the weekend, was intended to showcase the city’s festive events. Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan said all 21 Metropolitan councillors had been contacted about the post and described the video as “clearly AI made”, noting that local young filmmakers were surprised to see it.

O’Donovan argued the video was misleading and harmful to local creatives, who she said are already facing pressure from AI. City West representative councillor also condemned the council’s decision to disable comments on the post, calling it an inadequate response to public upset.

Fine Gael councillors Daniel Butler and Sarah Kiely echoed the sentiment, describing the use of AI as “unwise” and “amateurish”. Butler suggested the council should have leveraged community creative talent, while Kiely linked the video to budget concerns and called for a review of communications spending.

Other councillors compared the video to “The Polar Express”, “Terminator”, “The Grinch Stole Christmas” and Coca‑Cola adverts, with FG councillor Dan McSweeney likening the comment‑blocking to “behaviour you wouldn’t get in Russia”.

In response, the council’s Director of Economic, Tourism, Culture, Property & Corporate Buildings, Sean Lenihan, said the video was produced to inform the public of Christmas plans ahead of the season.

Source: Limerick Post. Photo: Zak Mir / Pexels.