Port Laoise

Portlaoise Portlaoise
—  Town  —
View of James Fintan Lawlor Avenue from the late blue bridge
Coat of arms
Portlaoise Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°01′51″N 7°18′03″W / 53.0309°N 7.3008°W / 53.0309; -7.3008Coordinates: 53°01′51″N 7°18′03″W / 53.0309°N 7.3008°W / 53.0309; -7.3008
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	County Laois
Dáil Éireann	Laois-Offaly
EU Parliament	East constituency
Elevation	139 m (456 ft)
Population (2006)
– Urban	3,281
– Rural	11,332
Irish Grid Reference	S465986

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1821	2,677	—
1831	3,223	+20.4%
1841	3,633	+12.7%
1851	2,078	−42.8%
1861	2,935	+41.2%
1871	2,731	−7.0%
1881	2,872	+5.2%
1891	2,809	−2.2%
1901	2,957	+5.3%
1911	3,270	+10.6%
1926	3,374	+3.2%
1936	3,396	+0.7%
1946	3,170	−6.7%
1951	3,304	+4.2%
1956	5,561	+68.3%
1961	5,598	+0.7%
1966	5,873	+4.9%
1971	6,470	+10.2%
1981	7,756	+19.9%
1986	8,384	+8.1%
1991	8,360	−0.3%
1996	9,474	+13.3%
2002	12,127	+28.0%
2006	14,613	+20.5%
[1][2][3][4][5]

Portlaoise or Port Laoise ( /pɔrtˈliːʃə/ or /pɔrtˈliːʃ/), historically spelled Port Laoighise or Portlaoighise,^[6] is the county town of County Laois in the midlands of Ireland. The population in 2006^[update] was 14,613.

History

The site where the present town is situated is referred to in the Annals of the Four Masters as Port Laoighisi during the 16th century. The present town originated as a settlement around the old fort, "Fort of Leix" or "Fort Protector", the remains of which can still be seen in the town centre. Its construction began in 1548 under the supervision of the then Lord Deputy Sir Edward Bellingham in an attempt to secure English control in the county following the exile of native Celtic chieftains the previous year. The fort's location on rising ground, surrounded to the south and east by the natural defensive barricades of the River Triogue and an esker known locally as 'the Ridge', greatly added to its strategic importance.

The town proper was established by an act of Parliament during the reign of Queen Mary in 1557 bc. It was named Maryborough and the county was named "Queen's County" in her honour. The area had been a focus of the rebellion of Rory O'More, a local chieftain who had rebelled and had lost his lands, which the Crown wanted to be settled by reliable landowners. For the next fifty or so years, the new English settlers in Maryborough fought a continual, low-scale war with the Gaelic chieftains who fought against the new settlement.

In 1570, a charter of Queen Elizabeth I raised the town to the rank of borough. This allowed the establishment of a Corporation of the Borough, a body which consisted of a burgomaster, two bailiffs, a town clerk, and a sergeant at arms, as well as various other officers, burgesses and freemen. Until the Act of Union took effect in 1801 and the abolition of its franchise, the town returned two members to the Irish Parliament. The Corporation itself existed until 1830.

Local government

Portlaoise Town Council is an elected local government body, and mandated under the Local Government Act 2001 to provide civic leadership and a forum for the democratic representation of the community. Responsibilities include amenity support, operation of the Litter Act, contribution to tourism development, event licensing, arts support, etc. The Town Council executive comprises nine elected Councillors, headed by the town mayor. The current mayor is Willie Aird. The current make up of the Town Council is three Fine Gael, two Sinn Féin, two Fianna Fáil and two Independent members.

A national anti-litter group identified Portlaoise as the dirtiest town in Ireland on 10 January 2011. It was nominated as the only town in the country to have a serious litter problem.^[7]

The town forms part of the seven member Portlaoghaise Local Electoral Area for elections to Laois County Council.

Portlaoise is twinned with Coulounieix-Chamiers in the Dordogne département of France.

Places of interest

Significant nearby local tourist sites include the ruins of an eight hundred year old hill-top castle at Dunamase; a large Georgian estate home designed by James Gandon and surrounding gardens at Emo; the town of Mountmellick, the site of a notable Georgian square; and the Slieve Bloom Mountains and Forest Park; a 12th century Round Tower in Timahoe.

Within the town itself, the former jail has been transformed into the Dunamaise Arts Centre comprising a cinema, performance space and exhibition space.

The town has many leisure facilities with the new Portlaoise Leisure Centre, town park and a Storm Cinema located in the town centre. The town has three main hotels Maldron located off Junction 16 M7 containing Subway and Little Caesars, Heritage Hotel and the Kileshin Hotel located on the old Dublin Road R445.

Economy

The town has long been a major commercial, retail, and arts centre for the Midlands. Until the early 20th century, the main industries of the town were flour milling and the manufacture of worsted fabric. Since their respective declines, the government has been one of the major employers in the town: the maximum-security Port Laoise Prison, which houses the majority of the Irish Republican political prisoners sentenced in the Republic, the Midlands Prison, and the Department of Agriculture are all large-scale employers in the town. This number is expected to increase further under the planned decentralisation of government departments from Dublin.

The National Spatial Strategy for Ireland has identified Portlaoise as an ideal location for an inland port. This designation encourages the town to focus on the growth of distribution, logistics and warehouse uses, which ties in well with its strong transport connections.

The town has a vibrant retail scene with the Laois Shopping Centre, Kyle Centre and Parkside Shopping Centres. The town has an Aldi, two Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Boots, Eurospar, Superquinn and a new Tesco Extra. The town has a new retail park on the Timahoe Road containing Halfords, Heatons, Homebase, Mothercare.

Transport

The railway station

• Portlaoise stands at a major crossroads in the Irish roads (major roads to Dublin, Limerick, Cork) network although construction in the 1990s of the M7 motorway, which bypasses the town, has reduced traffic congestion in the town centre.
• The town has a railway station served by intercity trains between Dublin and Cork and by Dublin commuter services. Maryborough railway station opened on 26 June 1847.^[8]
• Córas Iompair Éireann opened a new rail depot south-west of Portlaoise town centre in March 2008 (officially opened on 25 July 2008). The depot provides a high quality maintenance and servicing facility for the 183 new intercity railcars and some facilities for outer suburban railcars serving the Kildare Route.
• Bus Eireann operates an expressway service between Dublin and Cork which calls at Port Laoise, whilst Aircoach operate a similar service that also calls at Dublin Airport.
• Portlaoise is the first stop on the bus service Dublin Bus. It is the last stop when it is coming from Dublin as well. The bus stops at both Stops on James Fintan Lawlor Avenue and also at Kilminchy

Charity

Since early 2008 Portlaoise has been the Irish base of Self Help Africa, formerly Self Help Development International, the Irish development agency engaged in implementing long term rural development programmes in Sub-Sahara. Established at the time of the Ethiopian Famine of 1984, Self Help is the chosen charity of the Irish Farmers Association.

Sport

• Portlaoise RFC is the local rugby club, located just outside the town at Togher
• Portlaoise GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club and the most successful GAA club in Leinster.
• Portlaoise AFC is the local soccer club in the town in Rossleighan Park.
• Port Laoise Leisure Centre - 25meter pool, huge gym, FIFA approved 2* Astro pitch, soccer pitch and large children's playground
• Portlaoise Basketball Club - PBC is playing in ST.Mary's Hall currently playing in Division 1.

People

• Portlaoise is the home town of aviation pioneer James Fitzmaurice.
• Poet Pat Boran was from the town.
• Bartholomew Mosse, the founder of the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin
• Rotimi Adebari, Nigerian-born Irish politician was elected as the first black mayor in Ireland, in Portlaoise.
• Stephen Hunt (footballer born 1981), was born in Port Laoise.
• Pádraig Mac Lógáin, the only two-time President of Sinn Féin owned a pub on Main Street.
• Actor Robert Sheehan, best known for the comedy drama Misfits, is from the town.
• Conor Egan, an engineer famous for his contributions to Australian mining was born in Portlaoise.

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

1. ^ Census for post 1821 figures.
2. ^ http://www.histpop.org
3. ^ http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census
4. ^ Lee, JJ (1981). "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses". In Goldstrom, J. M.; Clarkson, L. A.. Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. 
5. ^ Mokyr, Joel; O Grada, Cormac (November). "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850". The Economic History Review 37 (4): 473–488. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract. 
6. ^ Port Laoise, Placenames Database of Ireland.
7. ^ Portlaoise dumped with the title of country's dirtiest town. Irish Independent, 2010-01-10.
8. ^ "Maryborough station". Railscot - Irish Railways. http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 

External links

• Photographs of contemporary Portlaoise plus photos of, and documents relating to, old Portlaoise.
• Website of the local arts centre, The Dunamaise Centre, which incorporates a theatre and art gallery