A group of Laois locals have banded together to work towards Portlaoise's accreditation as an Autism Friendly Town.

Over thirty business owners are expected to collaborate with Laois Chamber Alliance, Laois County Council, Downtown Portlaoise and autism charity AsIAm in this process.

Laois Chamber Alliance CEO, Ms Jackie Carroll, spoke to the Leinster Express / Laois Live on the initiative.

"Councillor Marie Tuohy first approached us through the Downtown Portlaoise team, looking at the accreditation process," Ms Carroll explained.

"We were given the go ahead in this project and are in the process of setting up a committee. The certification programme is a three year process through the autism organisation AsIAm.

"We hope to elect a committee chair who is a neurodivergent person, and we hope for the committee members to be from a wide range of communities across Portlaoise, such as sports, business and more," the CEO said.

Should the group be successful in achieving their accreditation, Portlaoise will be the first town in the Midlands to achieve this.

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"It requires thirty businesses to get involved and to become business champions, and part of this work is already done by Downtown Portlaoise who have a service charter.

"Training will be given to the businesses through AsIAm, we are still in the early stages of the process but everyone is very excited," Ms Carroll finished.

The public launch of the campaign is expected to take place in coming weeks.