Call to demolish 'eyesore' houses in Portlaoise

Preparations are underway to hire a contractor to demolish two burnt out houses described as an ‘eyesore’ in Portlaoise. 

The adjoining houses at numbers 13 and 14 in Lake Glen were destroyed by fire in April 2022.

Sinn Fein Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley asked about the properties at the latest meeting of Laois County Council. 

“With Lake Glen, I am delighted to have heard previously that one of the properties certainly is going to be built for disabilities which is exactly what I have been banging on about for years,” she said.

Cllr Dwane Stanley said she would like to see properties built with bedrooms downstairs so that those with reduced mobility could live in them.  

“I would ask for the tender for demolishing be advertised. Do we any idea as to when it will be demolished. I would ask if it to be done in phases very similar to what happened in O’Moore Place,” she said.  

“If we could get them demolished and a site cleared and then at a later stage whenever we are ready to build, fair enough. It is an absolute eyesore in that estate,” said Cllr Dwane Stanley.  

“There is a small residents association in there down through the years that have done great work and that is the bane of their lives at the moment, those two burnt out houses,” she remarked.  

Portlaoise house plans brought before An Bord Pleanala

Director of Services Angela McEvoy said the council was getting ready to hire a contractor to demolish the properties. 

“We are just preparing the tender for demolition for that so I am hoping by the September meeting that will be kind of sorted out,” she said. 

The monthly management report confirms also that the tender for demolition is to be advertised in Q3 2023.