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24 Oct 2025
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24 Oct 2025
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Jehovah's Witnesses in Laois have moved into a new Kingdom Hall in Portlaoise after years of planning but just a short few months of construction.
In a statement announcing the opening, the group said "honeysuckles and warm smiles" greeted Jehovah's Witnesses as they held their inaugural meeting at a new house of worship in Portlaoise on March at their new home on the Dublin Road.
Planning started in April 2019, when the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Ireland applied for permission to build the Hall behind Annfield House on a property that borders St Mary's Hall.
Over 400 Jehovah’s Witnesses from the local area, around Ireland and the UK volunteered over five months to help build the Kingdom Hall. The new building consists of an auditorium with a capacity of 90 people and some facilities.
A spokesperson said one challenge was finding accommodation for all the temporary volunteers that travelled from Scotland, Wales, England and around Ireland. But the local Jehovah's Witnesses worked to ensure that all coming to work had somewhere to stay as they supported the project. MORE BELOW PICTURE.
Pictured: The new Hall.
A local contractor who assisted with the project commented: “The hall that they’re building looks amazing, it’s a lovely spot. I’ve never seen so many people at a construction site with full gear on, working hard, everyone happy and taking pictures.
Honestly, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the nicest people I’ve ever met. Every time I go there they’re always so nice and they shake my hand and everything. It’s great.”
Laois County Council granted planning permission in November of that year while a further application to amend the plan was approved in 2022.
Unlike the nearby Portlaoise Parish Centre, the building will not be available for general community use.
A Christian movement, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that establishing God's kingdom over earth is the only solution to all of humanity's problems
READ ALSO: LAOIS PARENTS FORCED TO GO FOR MONEYLENDERS
The church says there are 121 congregations around Ireland. The group emerged in the United States from the Bible Student movement founded in the 1870s.
Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake!, and for refusing military service and blood transfusions.
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