Angry residents near Portlaoise mosque renew appeals to council

A PRIVATE housing estate near a Portlaoise mosque is being treated like a public car park, according to annoyed residents.

People living in Grenville have renewed an appeal for traffic problems to be resolved, amid serious concern for children’s safety.

Residents say that their cars are regularly blocked and that some visitors park ‘dangerously’ in the estate, which has a busy creche as well as a mosque close to the entrance.

At the January meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District (MD), Cllr Tommy Mulligan (Ind) said there is “a huge sense of frustration” in Grenville, adding: “A lot of residents are being boxed in to their houses and they are deeply annoyed by it and by the disrespect being shown towards residents by people parking there.

“They are also worried about their children. There is parking of cars on a green area where children are playing. A private housing estate is being used as a public car park.” 

The issue was initially raised by councillors Catherine Fitzgerald (FF) and Paddy Buggy (FG), who each lodged proposals seeking solutions to ongoing parking and access problems in Grenville, located on the Dublin Road opposite The Killeshin Hotel.

The Portlaoise Islamic Centre is based in Rahman House, at the entrance to the estate.

Cllr Fitzgerald said: “A lot of residents contacted us, raising concerns about traffic management and dangerous parking. An awful lot of residents are finding it difficult now to get out of their homes. 

“A lot of children are playing in the estate and sometimes running out between parked cars, so it’s a safety issue too. It is stressful and residents are really asking for help and solutions.” 

Cllr Buggy observed that childcare facilities were very important to families, as he asked for measures to increase the safety of children being dropped off and collected at the creche, ‘while also facilitating the wishes of the residents’.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley (Ind) pointed out that the problem was going on for over 15 years and all local councillors received the latest email from residents. She added that the parking issue was particularly bad on Fridays and days of worship at the mosque.

Cllr Dwane Stanley said: “The problem is that planning permission was granted in a built-up area on a busy road. The facility is there and we can’t move it. Gardaí go up and move cars from double yellow lines, but apart from that I don’t know what the answer is.” 

In a written response to councillors Fitzgerald and Buggy, a council official said the Portlaoise MD office would liaise with An Garda Síochána, ‘to support appropriate enforcement of traffic regulations’.

In a separate proposal, Cllr Buggy asked Laois Co Council to consider allowing new places of worship to be located ‘only where there is sufficient parking space for those who attend their place of worship’.

Cllr Buggy said he was conscious that there were many forms of spiritual belief and many like-minded people wished to congregate to worship as a group.

He said: “To facilitate this, groups either purchase or build a building to cater for their needs. As many of these worshippers travel distances by car to their places of worship, parking is essential.

“I’m suggesting that, in future, a requirement for granting permission for a place of worship is that there is sufficient parking to facilitate the worshippers.” 

Supporting the proposal, Cllr Mulligan said: “This is about learning lessons from what happened with the mosque on the Dublin Road. It was granted permission but doesn’t have adequate parking space and the residents are suffering now.” 

A written response from the council’s planning section said: ‘Laois Co Council will assess applications for new places of worship, in accordance with the development management standards of the County Development Plan (2021-2027), which include parking requirements and the zoning objectives for the area.’ 

Residents objected unsuccessfully to the proposed development of a mosque and community centre at Grenville back in 2007, when a planning application was lodged by the Rahman Foundation.

The application sought to develop a house on the estate to serve more than 1,000 members of the Muslim community living in Portlaoise. At the time, Grenville residents said the area would not have the capacity to deal with the centre due to an increase in traffic.