Natives of Co Laois around the globe are being urged to join forces in an effort to help the county realise a long-held ambition.
A fund-raising drive has been opened to generate the final £400,000 needed to complete the Laois Arts Centre in Portlaoise, which it is hoped will be open before next March.
Already Laois people are responding to the rallying cry. RTE newsreader Eileen Dunne, RTE producers Seamus Hosey and Michael Campion, journalist and former Ombudsman Michael Mills and former show-jumper Col Ned Campion were among the 100 or more Laois people who attended the launch of the Laois Arts Foundation Support Group in Dublin recently.
Laois associations in Sydney, San Francisco, London, Galway and elsewhere are also being contacted as the final push to reach the original £2.3 million target gathers momentum.
The Laois Association in Dublin will hold a social evening next Monday at the Jackson Court Hotel, Harcourt Street, Dublin, which is owned by Laois man Cathal Jackson.
The arts centre will be housed in the town's former jail, which was built in 1780 and designed by English architect Richard Morrison. Situated behind the old courthouse in Portlaoise, the centre will house a 240-seat theatre, an all-day restaurant, arts and craft shops, exhibition galleries, workshops and a bar, when it is eventually completed.
A grant of £1.3 million was secured from the then Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, with a further £200,000 provided by Laois County Council. Since then an additional £400,000 has been raised, and events are now being staged to collect the remaining £400,000.
Anyone wishing to contribute in any way should contact: Mr Seamus O'Brien, Laois Arts Centre Fund-raising Support Group, Main Street, Portlaoise, or telephone: (0502) 62867