Marina public toilets to open soon following “disappointing” delays

Two new accessible public toilets beside Cortado Coffee on the Marina Promenade are set to open very shortly after what were described as “disappointing” delays.

Social Democrat councillor Niamh O’Connor asked at Monday night’s Cork City Council meeting for a progress update on the toilets at Marina Park, which were due to have opened in October.

In their joint written response, Niall Ó Donnabháin, director of planning and integrated development, and Noel Murtagh, director of local area development and operations, said the council was concluding contractual arrangements that would enable the toilets to become operational “in the coming weeks”.

Ms O’Connor asked council management if signs pointing to the toilets could be covered until they are opened to the public.

She was told that the opening of the toilets had been held up due to an “insurance issue”, and that they hoped it would be resolved at the end of this week, but that if it took longer, they would consider covering the signs.

Ms O’Connor told The Echo: “It’s really disappointing that toilets that were expected to be operational in mid-October are still unavailable to the public and that we still don’t have a scheduled opening date.

“I think we can all agree that the council has done a phenomenal job on the Marina Park and the promenade but the lack of operational toilets is a very serious accessibility issue.

“Why were these contractual issues not resolved prior to the installation of the toilets?"

“It’s not good enough for basic infrastructure like toilets to be an afterthought on such a huge project.”