The LoveLaois Podcast

Sean Tuohy from Portlaoise CBS is the latest guest on our Transition Year series of the LoveLaois Podcast.  From Vicarstown, Sean chats about his TY experience this year, his various work experiences, his subject choices for the Leaving Cert and what he'd like to do in college.  He also discusses his use of social media, how he consumes news and what his attitude towards spending and saving.  Our...

The National Student Enterprise Awards finals take place next week and Laois will be represented by Portlaoise twins. Conor and Ross Dunne impressed the Laois judges with their project Mooving.ie . The TY students’ victory ensured that Portlaoise CBS retained the title following David Reddin and Johnny Phelan’s win last year . Conor and Ross are the sons of John Dunne who has owned Hume Auctioneer...

Katelyn Cummins from Ballyouskil, just across the Laois-Kilkenny border, became the newest Laois Rose last Friday night when she was crowned at the selection night in the Midlands Park Hotel.  Held just every two years now, she takes over from Sinead Dowd from Cullohill who was the 2023 winner.  Katelyn had come straight from work for this interview, where she is an apprentice electrician with Alp...

Society tells us that there's a certain order in which we should be doing things.  Primarily, it's school, college, work, then business.  But for Alison O'Kelly, a young woman from Portlaoise, she doesn't tend to follow the trend.  A head girl in Scoil Chríost Rí, she didn't conform to the stereotype, opting to take a backdoor route to university, set up her own business in the meantime and then m...

A top class jockey, a seven-time winner at Cheltenham, a judge on Ireland's Fittest Family, a published children's author and a former champion on Dancing with the Stars.  Nina Carberry certainly doesn't do things in half measures.  Elected as a Fine Gael MEP in last June's European Elections, she is quickly getting around her sprawling 15-county constituency that makes up the Midlands North West....

The Friday Panel is here to look back at the news stories that made the headlines on LaoisToday this week. Alan Hartnett is joined by Steven Miller where issue range from a new book, a fundraiser, to housing and April Fool's.  The pair also chat about the Electric Picnic line up, a Laois company that was sold for €31.6 million and much more. 

The broad outline of the story of Brian Stack is widely known.  A Chief Prison Officer in Portlaoise Prison, he was shot by the IRA outside the National Boxing Stadium in March 1983 and died 18 months later, leaving behind his wife and three sons.  For many years now his family have sought information, and justice, for their late dad.  In a recently-released book, Brian's son Austin details a lot...

LaoisToday were in Ballyfin on Saturday night for the finale of the local Dash to 44, a novel fundraiser in aid of a new astroturf pitch for the local school.  Throughout Saturday, various people from the community took part as they were bussed around the county to run a lap of every GAA club in Laois.  They arrived home to a hero's welcome in Ballyfin on Saturday night and the fundraiser now look...

A big feature of our recent trip to New York alongside the Timahoe Male Choir was meeting two Laois publicans who are based in the iconic US city.  Shane Buggy from Crettyard is living in New York for almost 20 years and works in McSorley's Old Irish Ale House, the oldest Irish bar in New York.  He also has an interest in a couple of other bars in the city but retains a strong connection with home...

He's back from America! After five magical days in New York, Steven Miller joins Alan Hartnett for the LoveLaois Podcast.  Steven spent the St Patrick's weekend with the Timahoe Male Choir and is back to tells us all about it.  From running around Central Park, ice hockey matches, lads getting lost, Ellis Island and amazing shows, this was the trip of a lifetime.  The lads also chat a bit about th...

For the second time, the LaoisToday Podcast is coming to you from New York - albeit with an intro from Alan Hartnett in Laois.  Steven Miller and Paul Dargan are across the water for LaoisToday and are continuing their coverage.  In this episode, Steven speaks to Mike Dunphy, the president of the Laois Association in New York, in the Irish-American Historical society. While we also hear from other...

What a day. For the first time ever the LaoisToday Podcast is coming to you from New York.  Excuse the hoarse voice and the somewhat patchy production - this episode was recorded on a bus in New York, on a boat near Ellis Island and from our hotel near Times Square.  But we hope it gives a sample of what it has been like travelling around one of the world's most iconic cities with a male choir gro...

Steven Miller and Alan Hartnett sit down for this week’s Friday Panel podcast with a very special guest.  David Walsh-Kemmis of Ballykilcavan Brewery in Stradbally joins the lads for a chat.  He is currently starring on a six-part RTE TV series called 'Saol Na Feirme' on Monday evenings at 8.30pm.  While most known for being a tillage farmer and brewery owner, the show demonstrates how David is al...

After a little bit of a hiatus, we are back with our LoveLaois Transition Year podcast series.  In the hotseat this week is Doireann Brennan from Portlaoise, who is in school in Presentation Thurles.  Doireann spent the first three years in Scoil Chríost Rí in Portlaoise before moving to the Tipperary school to link up with their highly-regarded soccer team.  She gets the train to Thurles every mo...

Steven Miller and Alan Hartnett sit down for this week's Friday Panel podcast looking back on some of the biggest local stories of the past seven days. From Monday's very eventful full meeting of Laois County Council to the Laois man who will be Grand Marshal of the St Patrick's Day parade in San Francisco, they also chat about a devastating recent fire, two unspeakable local tragedies and a new e...

New Sinn Féin Senator Maria McCormack from Portlaoise joins us on this week's episode to talk about her whirlwind political year. She contested three elections in seven months but is now settling in to her new role in Seanad Eireann. She chats about the experience of the past 12 months, what being a Senator actually entails, exchanging her water bottle for a crystal glass, her mother watching Sean...

After a few weeks off, the LoveLaois Podcast is back with a new Friday panel.  It is an all LaoisToday affair as Steven Miller is joined by his colleagues Alan Hartnett and Mark Comerford.  The lads begin with a detailed discussion on the Seanad elections where Maria McCormack was elected.  They also discuss some of the most read stories from the last couple of weeks. 

The first Friday Panel of 2025 as presenter Steven Miller is joined by regular guests Brian Phelan and Gavin Deering while Alan Hartnett makes his debut on this particular episode.  We chat about Government formation, Michael Lowry and the Healy-Reas, Micheal Martin, Super Juniors, Seanad Election and everything in between. 

The hugely talented John Whelan joins us on the latest version of the LoveLaois Podcast where he tells us of his journey into writing poetry.  John has essentially been writing for a living for almost half a century though poetry is certainly a different style. Mixing nostalgia with emotion and observation, he reads three of his poems -  Conkers, Stoked and Miscellany.  He chats about childhood me...

The LaoisToday team of Paul Dargan and Steven Miller travelled to Dublin on Wednesday for the first day of the 34th Dáil.  We caught up with the three Laois TDs as well as the newly-elected John Clendennen (Fine Gael) from Offaly and Mark Wall (Labour) from Kildare South.  For Fine Gael's Willie Aird it was his first day in the Dáil after 45 years in local politics while Sean Fleming (Fianna Fáil)...

The fourth episode in our Transition Year series is where we hear from Portlaoise CBS student Joe Larkin. From Stradbally, Joe is spending the second half of the first term on work experience with LaoisToday. Joe plays football for Stradbally Parish Gaels and is currently on the Laois minor panel. Joe sits down with Steven Miller where he talks about school, TY and social media. Alan Hartnett also...

The LaoisToday Friday Panel proved somewhat of a hit in the run-up to the General Election and it returns today for the postmortem.  Previous guests Vivienne Phelan, Brian Phelan and Eoin Barry return but Helen Campion is unavailable and is replaced on this occasion by Gavin Deering, who was campaign manager for Independent candidate Aisling Moran.  The guests chat about the election as a whole, t...

The General Election has come and gone with all seats now filled both in Laois and nationally. Willie Aird (Fine Gael), Sean Fleming (Fianna Fail) and Brian Stanley (Independent) have been elected in Laois. While nationally, Fianna Fail are the largest party with 48 seats in the new Dail. The count in Laois took a day and a half to complete and was one of the first in the country to finish. Steven...

The story of Day 1 at the Laois General Election count centre was the stunning success of first time Fine Gael candidate Willie Aird, who topped the poll.  Elected first to Portlaoise Town Commission in 1979, he has been a local representative for 45 years. He joined us on our LoveLaois Podcast to discuss his success, his amazing career in politics and what he feels like to be going to Dail Eirean...

The third episode in our Transition Year series where we hear from Knockbeg College student Cathal Carroll. Our Transition Year series is brought to you in association with People First Credit Union.  People First Credit Union support young minds in shaping their future. People First believe in the power of community and the potential of youth. People First Credit Union – building a future of oppo...