'A real coup for us' Portlaoise centre opens HSE eye and ear hospital outreach clinic

The new opthalmology clinic in Treo Nua centre in Knockmay, Portlaoise, was described this week as "a real coup" by its manager Maria McCormack.

It means the end of a long trek by patients to an Athlone eye clinic, or the eye and ear hospital in Dublin.

The HSE says that phase one of its new Laois service will open from June for children, with the adults' service to follow after. Online appointments have already begun in Treo Nua.

Ms McCormack gave an update on Treo Nua activities, to the March meeting of Laois County Council.

"An opthalmology service for people in the Laois area opened on March 23. That’s a real coup for our centre,” she said. 

The HSE has confirmed details to the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"The Ophthalmology Clinic for Laois will be based in Treo Nua, Harper's Lane, Portlaoise, with a phased implementation. The first phase will support children from Q2 2026 with the adult service to follow thereafter. The service is aligned to the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital Dublin (RVEEH) serving the catchment area of Co. Laois.

"The service will operate from 9am to 5pm one day (Wednesday) a week initially with a plan to progress a 9-5 Monday to Friday service by quarter 4, 2026. It will operate on a referral-only basis and by appointment thereafter," a spokesperson said.

The busy Treo Nua centre is a lifeline of support to local residents.

It was built along with six council housing estates of 217 houses in Knockmay in the early 2000’s, to support an area with a high rate of unemployment and one parent families.

"Primary tenants are the family resource centre, HSE and Laois County Council and we have a shop, training rooms and computer facilities.

"A key element is the preschool and afterschool childcare facility. We have multi purpose meeting rooms for social and education events. If anyone needs to rent a room that’s one of our major incomes. We rely on it to keep the doors from closing. We’re a lot cheaper than hotels.

"The family resource centre opens Monday to Friday for workshops. We provide printing and information services for the community. Some people are not confident to read or write or understand forms or use the internet. So for housing, school, medical matters they come to us. We’ll print forms and address the envelopes. 

"We have a café space which we see as the heart of the centre and we very much hope to have it open again soon. 

"I believe in the ripple effect, it really is a community centre and it takes a community to run it. We appreciate everyone who’s played a part in success,” Ms McCormack said.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley is chair of the Treo Nua committee.

"We are very lucky to have Maria and the staff. The centre went through its challenges particularly after Covid. We’ve worked to get it back to where it was and made great progress.

"The eye and ear is open now with an online service for three weeks and then it will be a ‘one to one’ in the clinic. People have contacted me to say it’s absolutely great. They had been travelling to Athlone. It’s a great benefit for the centre as well”.

She described recent efforts to reopen the café in Treo Nua.

"Thanks to Cllr James Kelly and his wife Eileen who facilitated us with a meeting in BloomHQ. We wanted to get a look at the café in Mountrath. To see if we could model the same in the centre of Treo Nua. We’ve come up against a lot of challenges to keep the café opened in the centre. It’s been closed for about the last six months. Hopefully that’s a good news story very soon. We are going to model the very same type of a café, with the support of Caroline Lydon and Laois Partnership. We are delighted with that.

"There are vital services there. Because we are in an area where there is I suppose a lot of disadvantage, there is a family resource centre doing fantastic work. In particular we have addiction counselling services, coming in and talking to those who have addictions of drugs and alcohol. We’ve had some very successful results there with people who tied in with the service, got in and did their treatment, and are back living in the community and making a great effort in the community, and that’s fantastic. That kind of work is second to none,” Cllr Dwane Stanley said.

Laois County Council CEO Michael Rainey praised Treo Nua as “a model of best practice that other local authorties try to copy”. He said that investing €2m of council cash after the economic crash in 2010, along with €2m in state funds to build it, was “a brave decision” by former manager Peter Carey.

"there is a really strong sense of community, there is minimum damage or vandalism, because of a sense that it is owned by the community".