The 153-year presence of the Christian Brothers in Portlaoise was honoured with a civic reception in the town last week to mark the end of the order's dayto-day involvement with the town.
The Brothers, who established a school in the town in 1847 during the worst years of the Famine, were responsible for a senior and a junior school, providing education to six generations of boys.
However, in a manner familiar to many religious communities over the past 20 years, the Brothers have seen their numbers dwindle to the point where it was more practical to hand over the daily administration of the schools to lay people.
Mr Oliver Meagher took over as principal of St Mary's secondary school from Brother Martin O'Flannery and Mr Des Sutton took over as principal at St Paul's primary school.
Last weekend, the community's remaining two brothers, Brother Sean O Dugain and Brother William Allen, left to take up duties elsewhere.
Before they left, however, their role and that of the wider Christian Brother community was praised by dignitaries at the reception in County Buildings.
The chairman of Portlaoise Town Commission, Mr Tom Jacob, and the chairman of Laois County Council were among those who thanked the order and the two Brothers present for their contribution to education in the town.
The county manager, Mr Michael Malone, a former CBS boy, said many boys would not have received an education were it not for the Brothers or the wider religious communities.
Brother Michael Murray, the deputy provincial of the Christian Brothers, said the order was sorry for anyone who had a negative experience while in its care.
He said the withdrawal from involvement in education in Portlaoise was a sad occasion. A lot of the work set out by the order's founder, Edmund Ignatius Rice, in providing Catholic education for the poor had been successful.
Brother O Dugain said he hoped the influence and teaching of the church would remain, particularly among the young, who were often "infiltrated" by outside influences.
After the civic reception a spokesman for the provincialate said the Christian Brothers would hope to continue to be involved in education, even if their numbers dictated that it would be by way of influence rather than day-to-day contact.
