New fence agreed for public green at Portlaoise leisure centre

Agreement has been reached to put a fence around a public green space in Laois, following dissent.

The green is part of Portlaoise Leisure Centre, and while it is open to the public, it has been damaged by walkers and made unsuitable for it's other use, as a pitch for Laois soccer club games.

Two councillors had disagreed on the need for a fence, with Cllr Willie Aird in Portlaoise declaring it must remain open to the public, and Cllr James Kelly, a soccer supporter and member of the Laois Combined Counties Football League, requesting urgent work ahead of the new CCFL season.

At the September meeting of Laois County Council, a compromise was announced.

The pitch is to get a 1.5 metre high fence around it, tall enough to "lean on".

Cllr Kelly said that a meeting was held since the last council meeting, and it was "very positive".

It's not going to be a 2.5 metre security fence, it will be a 1.5m fence that people can lean on," he said.

He said at present that Maryborough FC must go to Ballyroan to play, Midlands Celtic are playing in Portarlington, and only Tower Hill are using the Portlaoise pitch.

"I hope you can get the costings and workds done so these teams can play at the leisure centre and contribute to the running of the centre," he said.

Cllr Noel Tuohy is on the leisure centre board.

"It will be similar to the one in Rathleague so people can lean on it. It is not goingto be locked up during the day, it will be open. Residents at the meeting were more than happy," he said.

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Cllr Aird emphasised that it is a free public space.

"The main concern of residents was this is a communal area to be left for people to play ball or sit down, even though it's used for games. People use it all weekend, they were concerned this would take from the agreement," he said.

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald questioned why all Portlaoise public representatives were not invited to that meeting. 

"I had in a notice of motion on this but I wasn't invited. I think all Portlaoise councillors should have been invited," she noted.

Laois County Council is paying to repair the pitch which was deemed too impacted by footfall to be safe for soccer games. It will also pay for the fence.