Concern for Portlaoise kids playing on 'mountain' of construction spoil

A pile of construction waste in Portlaoise likened to a mountain is attracting children who are reported to be playing on top of it. with concern that there will be an accident.

The pile described as spoil and clay by Laois County Council is so big it will take weeks of work by machinery to remove it.

It was deposited at a building site behind the Ashton Manor estate on the Mountrath Road.

Local councillors are urging that it be removed.

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, Cathaoirleach of Portlaoise Municipal District tabled a motion on it to the October meeting, asking Laois County Council to arrange to remove it.

"It's like a mountain. People in Ashton Manor are putting up with it for a good while with a promise that it will be removed. I hope before Christmas we will see it gone.

"I don't know how it was allowed to develop," she said.

Cllr Willie Aird said that children play on it.

"I've seen it myself, I was brought to a back yard to view it. From a health and safety point of view it shouldn't be allowed to pile up.  I've seen kids playing on top. I said to myself what if one of them rolls off.

"There is some amount of drawing stuff on that. I couldn't guarantee that it will be gone before Christmas. They need a waste permit to remove it and they haven't got it yet," Cllr Aird claimed.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said that there is no place to take the waste.

Big new Laois housing estate planed for Portlaoise blocked

Permission overturned due to the size of homes planned

"There is a serious development on where to take this stuff. It's a problem all over. There is a lack of facilities," she said.

Laois County Council planners say they have requested its removal.

"The Building Control Officer has inspected the site and spoken with the Site Foreman. The foreman advised that excess spoil / clay will be taken off-site in the next two to three weeks. As there is a considerable volume of spoil to be removed, it will take a number of weeks to move it all," senior planner David O'Hara said in his reply to the motion.