Call to remove Maryborough from Portlaoise maps over 'ethnic cleansing' history

It is 125 years since Portlaoise Commission changed the town's name back from Maryborough, but the English Tudor Queen's name lives on in Google Maps, and a local councillor wants to put an end to it.

Non-party Cllr Tommy Mulligan tabled a motion to the May meeting of Laois County Council, asking for Tailte Éireann / Ordnance Survey Ireland to make the change on the official Irish maps.

It will not be as simple as he hoped however.

Cllr Mulligan made an impassioned case, giving a brief history of Laois' occupied history.

“Queen Mary 1 of England landed on our shores in 1553 - 1558 and ruled for five years.

“Lands were violently seized and confiscated from the native Irish clans. They were given to English settlers loyal to the crown where the natives were dispossessed, forcefully displaced and driven from their lands. Many Laois people who resisted were killed.

"Queen Mary's plan was to suppress our Gaelic culture, identity and language. The English called it the plantation but it was more akin to ethnic cleansing. Maryborough is representative of centuries of immense suffering and cruelty for Laois people,” he said.

He also asked for housing estates not to be called after past English leaders and cruel landlords, with examples given like Maryborough Village and Bellingham estates in Portlaoise.

However Laois County Council Director of Services Donal Brennan stated that while the town name was changed, the townland is still officially Maryborough, along with the historic east and west Maryborough Baronies.

On the suggestion of the CEO Michael Rainey, Cllr Mulligan agreed that the issue needs to be referred to the Laois placenames committee for discussion.

“Never in my career have I come across renaming a townland, we need to look at the legislation,” the CEO said.

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Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley seconded the motion, but on hearing that it requires official name changes, she suggests that it first needs “buy-in from the public”.

Cllr John King had voted to keep the name Maryborough on maps, seconded by Cllr Paddy Bracken and backed by Cllr Paddy Buggy.