Green light for construction of 24-hour car wash in Laois

The new automated car wash will be located in Portlaoise

Published 17th Aug 2026, 12:30 BST The site of the proposed car wash in Lismard Business Park in Portlaoise. The new automated car wash will be located in Portlaoise Sign up to our Laois Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Laois Live within your account.

Planning permission has been approved on a conditional basis for a 24-hour car wash in Portlaoise .

In June, Don Morrissey submitted a planning application to Laois County Council to construct an automated car wash unit at the back of Ben Dunne Gym in Lismard Business Park.

The development will include a fully automated touchless car wash facility which incorporates an integrated water recycling and treatment system.

The car wash will replace 15 parking spaces out of the 45 spaces on the site, which are regularly used by parents dropping off and collecting their children from the nearby Educate Together.

However, as part of the application, a car parking survey was conducted to examine the usage and demand for spaces at that part of the business park.

The survey found that the section of the business park where the car wash is proposed to be located is “underutilised.”

The usage of the carpark was recorded in early June before schools finished up for the summer. The report showed that the highest recorded occupancy of the carpark was 19 vehicles and this was in the morning time.

Council steps in to fix unfinished Celtic Tiger estate in Laois as developer defaults Overall, just under 12% of the carpark is used during the week. The report concluded that even with the reduction of 15 spaces, there is still “sufficient” parking in the area.

Laois County Council approved the application, subject to a number of conditions.

In April of last year, a different proposal for a car wash facility was refused for this area of Lismard Business Park.

Touchless Car Wash Ltd applied for planning permission to construct a car wash facility in the business park. This car wash, however, was proposed to be built directly beside Ben Dunne Gym.

The operators and owners of the gym objected to this planning application, arguing that although they did not oppose “the principle” of a car wash, they felt that the location of this facility would negatively impact customers of the gym due to increased traffic and queueing.

This application was ultimately rejected by Laois County Council on the basis of its location in the business park and the fact that the facility and the associated queuing “would have a detrimental impact on the operation and free-flow of traffic within the existing car park impacting on car parking areas and the R495.”