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Graiguecullen

Graiguecullen is situated on the Laois/Carlow county boundary, 36km from Portlaoise, 38km from Kilkenny City and 7km from junction 5 on the M9 Motorway. Carlow Town is the principal town in County Carlow and Graiguecullen is designated as a Service Town within County Laois. The Greater Carlow Graiguecullen Urban Area is an important County Town in the region, sitting within the Midlands Strategic Planning Area of the Eastern and Midlands Region. Graiguecullen is served by Carlow Rail Station, which is located on the Dublin-Waterford rail line and which provides regular commuter train services.

The Laois/Carlow county boundary follows the route of the River Barrow, for the most part, with the exception of a section of the Carlow Graiguecullen area, where County Carlow extends west of the River, as far as Killeshin Church. Graiguecullen has a compact urban form, contained on the western side of the N80. The R430 Castlecomer Road provides the main arterial route through Graiguecullen, with a mix of residential neighbourhoods, commercial and agricultural properties directly accessible from there. Commercial development within Graiguecullen is predominantly located along the N80.

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Overall population base

4,692

Local labour force

2,060

Labour force 30 mins

46,722

Labour force 60 mins

325,702

Education

There are a number of primary and secondary schools in the Greater Carlow Graiguecullen Urban Area. The area also provides third level education facilities, Institute of Technology Carlow and Carlow College which together accommodate over 5,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students.

Primary School M F Total
Bishop Foley N.S 262  0 262
Gaelscoil Eoghain Uí Thuairisc 218 257 475
St Fiacc’s N.S 283 248 531
Killeshin N.S 177 185 362
Carlow Educate Together N.S. 153 135 288
Carlow N.S 70 71 141
Holy Family G.N.S  0 365 365
Holy Family Boys School 363  0 363
Scoil Muire Gan Smal 440 0 440
St. Josephs N.S 166 2 168
Secondary School M F Total
St Mary’s Academy CBS 575  0 575
St Mary’s Knockbeg College 423  0 423
St. Leo’s College  0 1005 1005
Presentation College 355 398 753
Tyndall College 147 100 247
Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach 178 194 372

Transport
Infrastructure

The R448 (the old N9 Dublin-Waterford Road) routes through the centre of Carlow Town, connecting to the N80 Tullamore-Enniscorthy Road which serves as a by-pass for both Carlow Town and Graiguecullen. The N80 provides direct access onto the M9 motorway, which in turn provides connections to Kilkenny and Waterford to the south and Dublin to the north. Carlow Town Train Station is located on the Dublin-Waterford rail line and provides regular daily services in each direction. Carlow Town is situated on the Dublin-Carlow-Waterford-New Ross Bus Eireann bus route, with regular daily services in each direction and the town is also serviced by private bus travel, Kavanaghs, which provides regular daily services between Dublin and Waterford

Local Amenities

The Greater Carlow-Graiguecullen Urban Area contains a wide range of amenities and services, commensurate with its status as an important County Town in the South-East Region, including open space and recreation facilities, sports facilities, arts facilities and higher education facilities. The area also contains a mix of skilled employment and research and development facilities. In particular, the area contains the Institute of Technology Carlow (accommodating over 5,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students), Carlow College, VISUAL and George Bernard Shaw Theatre, as well as the National Arable Crop Research Centre and planned National Bio-energy and Industrial Biotechnology Research Centre at Oak Park. In terms of recreational spaces, the area provides high-order open spaces such as Oak Park Forest Park and the Barrow Track and the associated Town Park with marina, as well as facilities for a wide range of sporting activities. The area is also served by a district hospital.

Population Base

Graiguecullen has a population of 4,692. The area benefits from a high proportion of the population falling within the 34 years of younger cohort, at 56%, compared to 50% nationally.

Broadband

Graiguecullen benefits from the provision of fibre broadband, with a number of fibre cabinets located within the town and providing reliable broadband speeds. The town will also benefit from further improvements in broadband speeds, as part of Eir’s rollout of improved broadband services throughout the country.

Planning Context

Graiguecullen is designated as a ‘Service Town’ within both the Laois County Development Plan 2017 – 2023 and the Regional Planning Guidelines for the Midland Region 2010 – 2022 and it provides an important retail, residential, service and amenity function for the local hinterland and support for the Principal Town of Carlow. Graiguecullen is located in the extreme south eastern tip of the County and is heavily linked and connected to Carlow and the adjacent South east region for the majority of its services.

Graiguecullen is provided with zonings for the provision of additional Residential, Commercial, Enterprise & Employment, Industrial, Community-Educational-Institutional and other sustainable development in the future. The Laois County Development Plan 2018 – 2023 zones lands for development in Abbeyleix as follows:

Land use Ha
Residential 19
Community-Educational-Institutional 6
Enterprise & Employment 24

Testimonials

“Trading successfully in Graiguecullen in East Laois has been a strategy that has worked well for Cyc-lok Ltd, a tech startup that needs both excellent communications and infrastructure to be in place as we roll out an aggressive expansion strategy for the business. As we build an award winning physical product with embedded high tech communications on board, we chose Graiguecullen for a number of critical business reasons; the proximity of road and rail links to get our raw materials in and our supplied products out; the speed of fibre broadband available enables the business to transact globally; a locally available, educated and vibrant workforce enables expansion across a range of job functions and the availability of 3rd level Institute of Technology support at Carlow IT allows us to develop products and services for our future success.”

Kenneth Finn, Cyc-lok Ltd