Laois County Council to get new Chief Executive 

A FAMILIAR and very popular figure is expected to take the reins at Laois County Council.

The Laois Nationalist has learned that Michael Rainey, who left a senior role with Laois County Council five years ago, is set to become the next chief executive of the council. He is expected to be officially appointed before the end of the year.

 Mr Rainey will replace previous chief executive John Mulholland, who retired last June and the equally popular interim chief Simon Walton, who will continue as a director of services.

A former director of services in Laois, Mr Rainey was one of the most popular and respected members of the local authority senior team and his departure to Carlow County Council five years ago was regarded as a major loss.

Since December 2019, he has been a director of services in Carlow and spent time as interim chief executive there in 2022. His wife Denise Rainey also has a senior position with Laois County Council, where she is a highly regarded business development officer and the couple live in Ballintubbert, near the Laois/Carlow border.

Mr Rainey first came to Laois in 2001 and returned in 2005 after a brief stint with Kildare Co Council. Over the following 14 years, he held a variety of roles but was particularly associated with the housing department, where he was renowned as an extremely capable and good-natured official.

At Mr Rainey’s last Laois County Council meeting in November 2019, then-chief executive John Mulholland said: “Michael is an excellent and hardworking public official, with a track record of achievement and delivery and the results of his work are beyond reproach. But what many of you may not know is that he has a black belt in judo, he is a doctor of geology and is a master chess champion. I realised very early on to go along with him and nod in agreement as I was not in a position to challenge him physically or intellectually!” At the same meeting, some councillors joked that if things didn’t fully work out for him in Carlow they hoped he would return to Laois, as Mr Rainey had been an incredibly hard-working and capable director of services. They will be delighted that their hopes have been fulfilled.