Laois Council 'ambition' yields 'hundreds of jobs' as new €8 million factor opens in Portlaoise

Laois County Council's interim CEO is delighted to welcome a new business to enterprise park developed by the Council and is looking forward to more companies coming to the Portlaoise site creating new jobs in the process.

Simon Walton was responding to the news that the Kirby Group Engineering has officially opened a manufacturing facility at Junction 17 National Enterprise Park. Mr Walton said it's the result of vision and action by the council to attract investment and employment to Laois.

"Laois County Council had the foresight and ambition to develop the Junction 17 National Enterprise Park, all with a view to supporting enterprise and creating local, sustainable, high-quality jobs.

"At the Junction 17 National Enterprise Park, Laois County Council has provided all of the supporting infrastructure, to enable individual Enterprises, subject to planning permission, to develop their own sites and, thereafter, to easily connect to the transport network and to ‘plug in’ to all of the adjoining, available utilities. Located immediately adjacent to the M7 Motorway, the Junction 17 National Enterprise Park is ideally located for all of the State’s main transport networks, airports, ferry terminals etc," he said.

He outlined the evidence that the work done in advancing the masterplan launched in 2018 is yielding dividends.

"To date, it is very encouraging to see the likes of Supermacs, Laprino Cheese, Alpha Drives, Kirby Engineering and Midland Steel directly benefitting from the infrastructure provided by Laois County Council. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

"Hundreds of local jobs have emerged from the actions taken to date and the momentum created augers well for additional development and increased job creation in the local economy. Laois County Council, with the full support of elected members,  will do all we can to support that.

"There are substantial areas of lands still available for development in the Junction 17 National Enterprise Park," he said.

Mr Walton concluded by wishing the Limerick headquartered company well at their new operation in the Laois business park where millions of euro in public money have been invested.

"Congratulations to Kirby Engineering on their official opening, their ethos and operations clearly align with the principles of the Junction 17 National Enterprise Park Masterplan. We are delighted to see them at J17," he said.

Kirby say over 20 people are already working at the Portlaoise facility and Kirby expects that figure to reach 50 by the end of 2024. The team there provides fabrication, welding, engineering and BIM (building information modelling) services. It also features a dedicated cleanroom to facilitate high purity pipework.

Laois County Council produced its vision for the J17 National Enterprise Park in a masterplan in 2018. The plan aimed to set out a detailed vision for the lands at Togher to deliver a viable economic zone focused particularly on heavy, light and ICT industry, distribution, logistics and other uses associated with the transport industry.