New Laois Polish group to be launched in Portlaoise
Celebration of Polish Independence Day in town that has big Polish population
Poland's Ambassador to Ireland will be in Portlaoise in November to help offially launch a support Polish community support group on Polish Independence Day.
The Ambassador, Ms Anna Sochańska, is scheduled to attend two events in the Laois county town on Wednesday, November 10 in Portlaoise which has one of the biggest populations of Polish nationals in Ireland.
Polish is the single biggest foreign language spoken in Laois while the biggest single nationality other than Irish living in Laois hails from Poland.
Figures from Census 2016 show that there were 2,935 Polish speakers living in Laois on Census night 2016. There were 2,721 Polish nationals living in Laois of which 2,452 were born in Poland.
The POLaois Support Group will be launched at the Killeshin Hotel at an event starting at from 4pm.
Apart from Ms Sochańska, others due to speak are Lukasz Gdowski – Chairman of POLaois Support Group, Peter O’Neill – Laois Partnership Board Chair, Minister of State Sean Fleming, Charlie Flanagan, TD, Brian Stanley TD, Cllr Conor Bergin, Cathaoirleach Laois County Council.
The event will also feature music from Wiktoria Morozowicz.
Following the launch there will be an exhibition at the Dunamaise Art Centre which will be open to public 6pm – 6.30pm. The Ambassador will open the exhibition.
The evening concludes with a screening of Apocalypse Now -The Final Cut at 8pm in the Dunamaise. Info and tickets for this at https://dunamaise.ticketsolve.com/shows/873621988