Search
21 Jan 2026
Search
21 Jan 2026
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
More trees than jobs at IDA Business Park in Portlaoise.
The boss of the State agency which brings vital overseas investment and jobs to Laois will have a lot of explaining to do when he comes to Laois in early 2017, according to Brian Stanley TD.
The IDA boss Martin Shanahan is coming to Portlaoise in January with the most senior staff in Enterprise Ireland. The Laois Sinn Féin TD said Laois is practically ignored by Mr Shanahan and his team.
"The abysmal record of the IDA in Laois has been well documented and this shows no signs of improving. Figures released this week show that the IDA paid almost €93 million in grant aid last year to support employment from foreign direct investment enterprise.
"However, Laois fared very poorly and was practically ignored with a tiny grant of just €5,000, the lowest amount of all counties which received grant aid in 2016," he said.
Dep Stanley said Laois has a rapidly growing youth population with 24.6% under the age of 14, the highest in the state. He said the county also had the fastest population growth in the country of 26.3% between 2006 and 2016 yet the participation rate for school leavers in Laois for access to 3rd level was 41% in 2014, again the lowest in the country.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
