PICTURES: Laois Year in Review - Treacherous weather conditions marks start of 2025

The year began with treacherous weather conditions across Laois as heavy snowfall led to widespread disruption. Midlands Hospital Portlaoise cancelled all outpatient appointments due to the wintry weather while Laois County Council staff were out in force gritting roads. CONTINUE READING BELOW 

Lily and Aidan Moore, Mountrath loving the snow back in January. 

The Council used over 1,260 tonnes of salt on roads, with 14 treatments required over the nine day weather event. During that period the Civil Defence took over 155 calls for assistance.

January also saw the arrival of Storm Éowyn which left thousands of Laois households without power with some communities left with no water. Key roads were blocked as a huge number of trees were felled by the record breaking weather that caused devastation right around Ireland. In the hours after the storm council staff worked to clear 120 trees off the county’s roads to make them safe enough for motorists.

The start of 2025 saw Portlaoise hospital under immense pressure with more than a fifth of beds having to be taken out of normal use to cope with a surge in patients through its Emergency Department (A&E/ED).

Almost 1,700 people signed a petition within a day of its launch, asking the Minister for Justice to stop the deportation of a young African family from Portlaoise.

The school community of St Mary's CBS Portlaoise rallied around Lucy Adebowale and her five children Star, Greatness, Value, Prosperity, and Gold to stop them being deported to Nigeria. The three older boys attend the secondary school and the two youngest are pupils in St Fintan's boys NS in Mountrath.

A petition created on the Uplift online petition platform called Keep the Adebowale Family Safe gathered 1,694 signatures within a day of its launch on Wednesday, January 22, 2024.

January saw Fine Gael's newest county councillor replace the party's new Laois TD as Cathaoirleach of the biggest Municipal District in Laois.

Cllr Paddy Buggy was backed by his Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael colleagues to assume the chairmanship of the Portlaoise Municipal District at his first meeting.

Cllr Buggy was co-opted by Fine Gael to Laois County Council after the election of long time Portlaoise councillor Willie Aird to the Dáil.

The month also saw a big change in Laois policing with confirmation of the departure of the county's superintendent just as the near €30 million renovation of Portlaoise Garda Station got underway.

The Laois Offaly Garda Division confirmed the departure of Superintendent Eamon Curley due to his promotion as Chief Superintendent in neighbouring Kilkenny Carlow Garda Division. His promotion was marked by a celebration at the Laois Offaly HQ in Portlaoise.

A big step was taken in the development of a Community Enterprise Hub for Durrow when Laois County Council invited contractors to bid for the construction contract. The local authority initiated the tender process for the hub earmarked for Patrick St in the south Laois village. Working in conjunction with the Durrow Development Forum CLG, the council published an envelope of documents and plans for the construction project which has an estimated value of €2 million.

There were celebrations when a fifth year student at Mary's CBS Portlaoise came second in the senior technology category at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.

Joshua Corbett’s project entitled ‘Breaking Barriers: Revolutionising the Treatment of Brain Diseases’ focused on the Development of a novel nano-QSAR model to predict drug delivery of nanoparticles to the brain.

His biology teacher Emily Barrett said: “This is an incredibly competitive category, which makes his achievement all the more impressive. We are extremely proud of Joshua and his accomplishment.”