'Don’t hold back the basic because you want the Rolls-Royce': Calls for more public toilets in Cork

Not for the first time, a lengthy discussion on loos took place at a meeting of Cork City Council with many councillors calling for the provision of additional facilities in the city.

It was prompted following a motion tabled by Solidarity - People Before Profit councillor Brian McCarthy calling for the installation of additional toilets at Marina Park.

Public toilets were installed by the council in the central plaza area of the park, however, the toilets are managed for the council by the operator of an adjacent café and are only open when the café is open.

“This is a wider issue though and attention needs to be drawn to it because we see it right across the city, a lack of public toilets,” Mr McCarthy said at the meeting this week.

“We used to have more but it seems that every time there are issues with anti-social behaviour or maintenance they’ve been closed down. How is that the right answer when these are vital for any urban area to have?” 

Fine Gael councillor Des Cahill said he agreed with Mr McCarthy about the need for additional facilities at Marina Park.

“There should absolutely be one [a toilet] in the playground where the slides were put in recently. There are parents having to bring their children into the bushes to use the toilets, there are elderly people who can’t bring their grandchildren down there and it’s simply not good enough,” he said.

Mr Cahill said, when it comes to the provision of public toilets, city officials seem insistent on providing a “Rolls-Royce” standard of public toilet or nothing at all.

“Start with a basic model and, as we get more funding, expand on the basic but don’t hold back the basic because you want the Rolls-Royce,” he added.

Social Democrats councillor Pádraig Rice described the provision of public toilets as a “really important public service” which he claimed has been “completely neglected” in the city.

Mr Rice said additional facilities need to be provided in the city and that existing toilets should be better advertised.

During the last council term, a public toilet policy which included short-, medium-, and long-term initiatives for the provision of public toilets in the city centre and the wider city area was agreed upon.

Chief among the short-term initiatives was the opening up of the North Main St Shopping Centre toilets to the public, which was completed on June 29, 2021.

Among the medium-term policies was a commitment to deliver a new toilet facility on Grand Parade, which has also been completed.

However, speaking at the council meeting this week, Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said he felt “energy has been lost behind that strategy”.

Independent Ireland councillor Ken O’Flynn suggested the council could look at offering an incentive for businesses in the city who permit public use of their toilets.

It was agreed that the motion relating to Marina Park go to the local area committee for further discussion and that a review of the public toilet policy would take place at the council’s special committee on environment.