'Disgraceful' scenes at Portlaoise leisure centre

GARDAÍ had to be called to Portlaoise leisure centre this evening, after a large group of youths caused havoc in the swimming pool area.

Staff and lifeguards were verbally abused and customers were disrupted during the alarming incident, which was described by centre management as ‘disgraceful behaviour’.

Laois Leisure Portlaoise announced tonight that it has regrettably suspended free access for Leaving and Junior Certificate exam students, as a result of the unacceptable behaviour of some young people.

In a notice on social media at about 9.30pm tonight, Laois Leisure general manager Seán Quirke said: ‘We regret to announce that, with immediate effect, we are pausing our complimentary access for Leaving and Junior Certificate exam students in Portlaoise.

‘We apologise to the many decent, well behaved and respectful students that are impacted by this. 

'This has been necessitated by the disgraceful behaviour of a large group this evening, interfering with the enjoyment of our Aquafit and other customers, verbally abusing our hard working team of staff and failing to follow lifeguard and staff instructions.'

Mr Quirke added: ‘We have provided this complimentary service to exam students for many years and we are extremely disappointed to have to call upon busy Garda services to assist our team to remove people for whom we are trying to do the right thing. We will review the situation next week.'

He said: ‘We wish the very best to all of those doing their exams right now.’