Lack of sports facilities in Portlaoise must be addressed
One of the pitches at the Moneyballtyrell site, which is adjacent to the Portlaoise Leisure complex
LAOIS Co Council should, as a matter of urgency, apply for funding under the in order to fund the development and construction of a multi-purpose community hall at the newly purchased Moneyballtyrell site to cater for the sporting, recreational and social needs of the growing population of Portlaoise.
The motion was brought to the recent meeting of Laois Co Council by independent councillor Tommy Mulligan.
The area office commented: "So, the large-scale sports investment fund, otherwise known as the LSIF, is currently paused in 2024. In 2024, Laois Co Council applied to the LSIF for the development of the sports hall at Moneyballytyrell. The application was refused in November 2024 and we were told that among other matters, a reserved list of unsuccessful projects would be maintained by the department where unfunded projects may eventually have the opportunity for future funding."
Explaining the rationale behind the motion, Cllr Mulligan harkened back to his youth and explained how so many of the facilities that were available when he was 16 â tennis and squash courts on the Ballyfin Road, the badminton club in Portlaoise GAA centre, two snooker clubs in the town, a public football club and a public running track â had all closed their doors in the intervening decades.
In addition, he highlighted how the population of Laois had tripled in the 30 years since he was a teenager; 9,000 then, and now pushing 30,000, but no additional sporting facilities.
The councillor highlighted that right now there are no rackets sport facilities in Portlaoise town and no public running track.
He said that while before he was a councillor he would have advocated for a multi-sports complex, now, after several years of negotiating costs at council level, he understood that the costs of maintaining such a facility would be prohibitively high.
However, he did advocate for a number of smaller facilities to be scattered across the town â a racket sports facility in Portlaoise town, a new basketball hall and a public running track are among his top priorities. The motion was resoundingly supported by the other councillors, though there were some differences of opinion as to how funding would be sourced.
Cllr Marie Tuohy advocated to push the government more to help with sporting infrastructure, while another representative urged sporting groups that wanted such facilities to also help with funding their development.
The area office said it would again look into the , as well as explore other avenues to secure funding for potential developments.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
