Laois County Council Hears Claims Portlaoise Is "Disproportionately" Favoured For Funding

Tuesday, 30 November 2021 06:56

The accusation came from reps from Portarlington and Mountmellick.

Laois County Council has heard claims that Portlaoise is receiving a disproportionate level of regeneration funding.

The accusation came from representatives of Portarlington and Mountmellick.

Portarlington's Sinn Fein Cllr Aiden Mullins claims the county town is being favoured for regeneration funding at the expense of the rest of the county.

His grievance centres around a 200,000 commitment by Laois County Council as part of the Indicative Capital Programme 2022 to 2024, which he says equates to 65,000 per year while Portlaoise gets millions.

He added that he doesn't begrudge work being done in the county town but it's disproportionate to other areas.

Cllr Mullins was joined by Fianna Fail Cllr Paddy Bracken in voicing his disappointment, pointing out there's very little for Mountmellick in terms of regeneration of the public realm.

In response Director of services Gerry Murphy said the council had included two specific projects in Portarlington and cited other works such as footpath improvement works for Main Street and Foxcroft Street.

Chief executive John Mulholland said that there's "more than Mountmellick that's under pressure for regeneration", but he promised that a lot of towns and villages will get attention from the council.