PORTLAOISE is best known for its top-security jail and mental hospital - they're both on the same street, known to locals as Nuts 'n' Bolts Road. The prison was founded in 1547, when the O'Mores held the fortress of Dunamase to the south, as a fortification under the name of Fort Protector. The town itself is pretty unremarkable, though it does have a useful tourist office James Fintan Lawlor Ave (May-Sept Mon-Sat 10am-6pm; open sporadically at ... [More]