Portlaoise

Portlaoise Port Laoise
Town
Main Street, Portlaoise
Coat of arms
Portlaoise Show map of Ireland Portlaoise Show map of British Isles Portlaoise Show map of Europe
Coordinates: 53°01′51″N 7°18′03″W / 53.0309°N 7.3008°W / 53.0309; -7.3008
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	Laois
Founded	1557 AD(as Maryborough)
Town Charter	1570 AD
Government
• Type	Laois County Council
• LEA	Portlaoise
• Dáil Éireann	Laois
• European Parliament	Midlands–North-West
Area
• Total	9.7 km2 (3.7 sq mi)
Elevation	139 m (456 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	20,145
• Rank	18th (2nd in Midlands)
• Density	2,074.7/km2 (5,373/sq mi)
• Ethnicity	Ethnic groups White Irish (65.73% ) White Other (15.87%) Black/Black Irish-African (3.99%) Asian/Asian Irish-Other (2.6%) Other inc. Mixed Background (1.41%) White Irish Traveller (1.35%) Asian/Asian Irish-Chinese (0.35%) Black/Black Irish-Other (0.31%) Not Stated (1.2%)
Demonym(s)	Portlaoisian
Time zone	WET (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (UTC+1)
Eircode	R32
Area code(s)	057, (+353)57
Currency	Euro;(EUR:€)
Date Format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Vehicle index mark code	LS
Drives on the	Left

Port Laoise, or Portlaoise (Irish [pˠɔɾˠt̪ˠˈl̪ˠiːʃə], anglicised /pɔːrtˈliːʃ/), is a town in Ireland. It is located in Co. Laois in the South Midlands in the province of Leinster. With a population of 20,145 , it is the second-most populous town in the Midlands, (with only eight fewer people than Athlone) and It is also the most populous county town in the Midlands Region, which has a total population of 282,195 at the 2011 census. The Preliminary Results for the 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 8.4% to 21,839, which is well above the national average of 3.7%.

It was an important town in the medieval period, as the site of the Fort of Maryborough, a Fort built by English settlers in the 16th Century.

Portlaoise is fringed by the Slieve Bloom mountains to the west and north-west and the Great Heath of Maryborough to the east. It is notable for its architecture, engineering and transport connections. On the national road network, Portlaoise is located 80km (49 miles) south-west from Dublin on the N7/M7, 170km (105 miles) north-east from Cork on the M8/M7 and 113km (70 miles) east of Limerick on the M7.

It was once famous for the manufacture of iron and steel buildings, tennis balls, rubber seals and electrical cabling. Today Portlaoise is a commercial centre, with the economy dominated by the service sector, and an important retail, transport, events and conference hub.