Cork to finally get its €30k toilets on the Marina this weekend

Public toilets installed by Cork City Council more than six months ago will be open to the public this weekend, with the Council confirming the unit cost €30,000.

Cork City Council installed the public toilets on the Marina last October but “encountered unforeseen operational issues”, a council spokesperson said.

“The council has been working hard since to conclude contractual arrangements to enable the public toilet facilities to open as soon as possible.” 

The spokesperson told The Echo this afternoon that the toilets would be open for the bank holiday weekend, with keys having been dropped off to the operators of the Cortado coffee kiosk, who will be responsible for opening and closing the toilets each day, as per the lease agreement for operating from the kiosk.

City council will be covering the cost of a cleaner to visit twice a day.

They added: “We are delighted that the issues that have slowed the delivery of these toilets have been resolved so that this much needed public amenity is now operational.” 

Fianna Fáil councillor for the area, Terry Shannon, said that he got involved in the mediation process between the council and café operators last month “to try and bring them closer together.

“City hall had one financial wish, the café had another, so it’s been back and forth between the two but we’ve now come to a mutual agreement on both sides.

“Really and truly, the provision of public toilets is a matter for city council. They do need to be supervised as well as cleaned, so next to established businesses is a good idea, but we can’t expect these small businesses to carry the load, it has to be a collaboration.

“I’ve spent two weeks bashing people’s heads together, but the city council will be taking on the insurance and a contractor will be coming in to clean the toilets twice a day and emptying the tank once a week.

“The issue was who was going to pay for it and how much it was.

“But now the long saga of the toilets in the marina is over, they’ll be open later on this afternoon or tomorrow morning.”

Mr Shannon said he’s hopeful to get more toilets open in the area soon, some by Pairc Uí Chaoimh and others by Holland Park, adding that the Fianna Fáil council party group are going to look to put money aside for this in next year's council budget.

“We have to talk to management, they have a particular view that they don’t want to be involved with toilets because there’s a big cost, cleaning and insurance have to be covered, but we had a proliferation of public conveniences around the city in the past, and we need to get back to that."

The council spokesperson said: “It is City Council policy to provide public toilets, where possible, at all of the city’s major public parks – usually at those with the highest footfall and at locations where people would spend a number of hours enjoying the amenity.”

It cost the city council just over €30,000 to buy the new unit, the spokesperson added.

“The council has engaged contractors to maintain and clean the units. The toilets will be open during the adjoining café’s extensive opening hours, seven days a week.”