Council still working on plan for elderly access to Cork city toilets

Work is ongoing on a plan to partner with businesses to offer toilet facilities for older people, four months after the plans were agreed, Cork City Council has said.

The Leeside Leithreas initiative was agreed in April of this year as part of the city’s age-friendly city strategy 2025-2029, which has 42 actions, covering topics such as health, housing, transportation, communication, and civic participation.

A spokesperson for the council provided an update on the progress of these initiatives to The Echo, including that a new age-friendly older people’s council (OPC) is now in place for Cork city.

Meeting six times per year, this council is tasked with progressing the actions in the Cork city age-friendly strategy. It is also now in the process of forming subgroups to look at the actions listed in the current age-friendly strategy, including the development of the Leeside Leithreas initiative.

The spokesperson explained: “Under the strategic theme of ‘outdoor spaces and public buildings’, aim number 37 states to ‘Roll out the Leeside Leithreas initiative in businesses and workplaces’.

“This scheme proposed that businesses near amenity areas would agree to make their toilets available to the public. An ‘opt in’ discrete window sticker indicates businesses who are part of the scheme.

“This initiative will be promoted as part of the delivery of the age-friendly business recognition programme in partnership with the Local Enterprise Office, Cork’s age-friendly forum, OPC, and Alliance, CBA [Cork Business Association], and Cork Chamber.”

Preparation for delivery of this age-friendly business recognition programme is “currently under way” with voluntary training for local businesses to commence as soon as possible, they added.

It comes as Cork advocate for the elderly, Paddy O’Brien, recently told The Echo that the lack of toilet facilities was having a huge impact: “I speak to senior citizens on a regular basis, and they complain about this all the time — I can’t understand why there is such a shortage of this essential service.

“Some senior citizens tell me they are confined in their homes and would not venture into the city centre for lack of public toilets. Some cafes and restaurants do not allow customers to use toilet facilities.”