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
PICTURES: Laois Year in Review - Treacherous weather conditions marks start of 2025
Edel Barry and Grainne Hennessy at the Laois Hunt Ball in The Manor Hotel, Abbeyleix. Photo: Alf Harvey.
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Members of the POPA committee at the Portlaoise Senior Citizens party in The Killeshin Hotel. From left, back: Christine Lacey, Thomas Lacey, Mary Reddin, Carmel Kelly and Jimmy Shiels. Seated: Anne Dennehy (secretary) and Eugene Lacey (chairman).Photo: Alf Harvey.
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Francie (IFA president), Kay and Tom Gorman at the Laois IFA Dinner Dance in The Manor Hotel Abbeyleix. Photo: Alf Harvey.
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Joshua Corbett from St. Mary's C.B.S. Portlaoise being presented with the second place Senior Individual Technology Category Award from Therese Gunning, Legal Director at BT Ireland, at this year's BT Young Scientist Competition in the RDS in Dublin.
