WASHROOM HYGIENE


Public toilets – are they on the decline?


Complaints about public washroom provision in Northern Ireland and the Republic have been aired in the press recently. Tork manufacturer Essity considers how public washrooms can be run more efficiently and cost-effectively so local authorities find it easier to keep them open.


A Dublin restaurant owner recently went on the record as saying that the city needed to ‘get its act together’ and provide a proper network of public toilets.


Business owner Gina Murphy complained that eateries were being obliged to allow non-customers to use their washrooms because there were only 28 public toilets listed as being available on the Dublin City Council website.


Meanwhile, the Belfast Telegraph recently published an article claiming that the disparity and general decline of public toilet provision across Northern Ireland was a matter of concern. According to the publication, Ballymena residents were protesting about the closure of the town centre’s ‘awarding-winning’ public toilets, while the number of facilities in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area had fallen from 15 to 12.


Public toilets have been closing everywhere – and the process seems to have sped up as a result of COVID-19. The global pandemic led to the closure of many public toilets as most people stayed at home. When lockdowns were over, cash-strapped councils starting weighing up their options, with some deciding to save money by leaving these facilities closed.


Public conveniences can be expensive to run and time- consuming to maintain. In May this year, councillors in


10 | TOMORROW'S CLEANING IRELAND


Limerick vetoed a plan for a new automated toilet in Bruff when it emerged that the cost of installing and maintaining the facility would be around €40,000 per year.


However, tight budgets are only one cause of the problem: there’s also an issue with vandalism.


County Antrim councillors recently claimed to have spent £20,000 on repairing damage to one set of public toilets, while the conveniences in Lilian Bland Park were forced to close for several days after vandals targeted the venue. In July, it emerged that the new public toilets in Swords in County Dublin had been vandalised for a second time, with several windows broken and cubicles trashed.


Public facilities are crucial for everyone. They are vital for the economy, too, since customers are unlikely to prolong a shopping trip if they know there will be no public toilets available for their use. Similarly in the tourist season, people will be forced to curb their visit to a resort or other amenity if they discover that the toilet provision is either poor or non-existent.


So, efforts need to be made to provide public facilities that are cost-efficient to run and that also discourage vandals. This can be achieved by equipping the facilities with long- lasting, low maintenance systems housed in lockable, robust dispensers that are hard to damage or to rip off the walls.


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