Spend a penny or spend €400k at Ireland's most expensive toilet

The site of a public toilet, which was bought by developers for €400,000 at the height of the property bubble, could soon be returned to its original function — making it Ireland’s most expensive toilet.

The tiny site, on the Lahinch Promenade in Co Clare, was sold at public auction in June of 2008 — at which time it was dubbed the ‘Loo with a View’.

The 290sq m site was bought from Clare County Council for €400,000 but was never developed.

Money from the sale was ring-fenced for the development of new public toilets as part of the Lahinch Master Plan, but this has been stalled for a number of years as Clare County Council sought matching funding from Fáilte Ireland.

Councillors at this week’s North Clare Area Meeting said the time had come to abandon plans for new toilet facilities and buy back the Loo with a View.

“Surely to God we could buy back that block at the top of the promenade and put in place a state-of-the- art toilet there,” said Fine Gael councillor Bill Slattery yesterday.

Makeshift public facilities are currently provided for beach goers at Lahinch Seaworld — which councillors claim are not suitable for the number of people who use the beach during the summer months.

A council spokesman said the local authority would examine both the re-purchase of the Loo with a View and the development of appropriate alternative facilities at Lahinch Seaworld.