Laois town confirmed to get new fire station instead of planned upgrade

Laois County Council has confirmed that Mountmellick is going to get a new fire station.

The information follows the delivery of a second hand converted shipping container with male and female toilets and showers.

The council has clarified the details of the container’s deployment, to the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

News of its installation had been given at the October meeting of Laois County Council, in contrast to the updates for the multi million euro plans for new fire stations in Stradbally and Rathdowney.

Laois County Council Director of Services Simon Walton told the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the plan for a new Mountmellick station follows the WRC agreement in 2023 to increase fire fighter numbers.

“Mountmellick Fire Station is the next station to be replaced, after Stradbally and Rathdowney. This is reflected in the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) Capital Programme 2026-2030,” he said.

Mr Walton also confirmed that the temporary toilet block was kindly provided free of charge from Kildare County Council.

“The NDFEM has funded minor upgrade works, to include a 10 m x 3 m modular toilet unit, to cater for both DEI and increased staffing levels under the 2023 WRC Agreement, and enhanced car parking at Mountmellick Fire Station. This work will be completed by the end of November.

“Following the Fire and Emergency Services WRC Agreement, numbers of retained Fire Fighters have increased significantly, across all Fire Stations.

“With a view to providing interim, enhanced, welfare facilities for our retained Fire Fighters in Mountmellick, we recently accepted an offer of the welfare unit (no cost) from Kildare County Council (it previously served Maynooth Fire Station while they waited for the completion of a new Fire Station).

“We then sought and were approved funding from NDFEM (€40,000) to facilitate the relocation of the unit to Mountmellick, connecting it to the on-site services and, in the process, creating some additional parking facilities at the site.

“The welfare facility (shipping container) is adapted to provide male/female toilet and shower facilities and represents a value intervention, enhancing facilities for staff, pending delivery of a new Fire Station in Mountmellick,” the council director said.

Mountmellick fire station, operating in a former petrol station since the 1970s, was up to 2024 planned to get an upgrade only of existing facilities.

In Stradbally, construction of the new €3.2m new two bay station is well underway.

“The contract between Laois County Council and Ormonde Construction Ltd. was signed on the 29th April 2026.

“Construction started on the 18th of May 2026. Work is progressing, with the roof complete and work on floors progressing,” the council’s October report said.

It will have a training yard with drill tower, lecture room, canteen and staff facilities for 12 fire-fighters. The facilities will also include individual changing areas for each crew member. It will be built to Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB) standards making it environmentally friendly to heat.

Rathdowney is next on the list in Laois to get a new station, but it will be some years before that is built.

The council says that a tender process is about to be completed to source architects.

“Rathdowney Fire Station NDFEM approval to proceed to detailed design and costings for a new 2-bay Fire Station in Rathdowney has been received.

“Tender process to appoint a design team has been published on eTenders with a stage one closing date of mid- November.”

The WRC agreement means that each fire station now has to have a minimum of 12 retained fire fighters, with 6 available to respond. It also gave them higher pay and structured time off among other benefits, achieved after union strike action.

Laois fire crews have had a busy year so far, responding to over 1,000 emergency incidents by mid October. The busiest station was Portlaoise with 304 turnouts, followed by Portarlington 147, Mountmellick 141, Stradbally 139, Abbeyleix 84, Mountrath 83, Durrow 72 and Rathdowney 45.