Irish Examiner view: Dearth of facilities leads to 'wild toileting'

You can hardly blame businesses for feeling they shouldn't have to do all the heavy lifting for public convenience

Mon, 05 Jun, 2023 - 02:05

“He is from Cork. Does he care about Cork?” So asked a judge last week when he sentenced a 61-year-old man for exposing himself and urinating in the city’s main street. It’s a good question, and one worth asking, albeit that the defendant had 185 previous convictions, including 76 for being drunk.

But, whatever the circumstances of this case, there’s a bigger question which also has to be put, and it is one which has exercised citizens for a number of decades. Why is Ireland so very poor at providing public conveniences?

It seems an almost wilful own goal in a nation which received over 1.7m overseas visitors in the first quarter of 2023, and which is promoting heavily to recover the figures achieved since the record pre-pandemic year of 2019. Nor is it a problem confined to Cork despite the judge being told there is a “dearth” of facilities in the city.

A Green councillor told Newstalk that a lack of public toilets in Dublin is leading to increased “wild toileting”. That’s a polite way of putting it.

The reality is that while many retailers and restaurateurs are willing to help people, and even have informal arrangements with local authorities, this is very much on a grace and favour basis. You can hardly blame hard-pressed business people for feeling they shouldn’t have to do all the heavy lifting when Government has increasingly abdicated responsibility for providing a reliable service which aids public health and civic society.

The shortfalls in infrastructure became evident during lockdown. Now, as the number of shops in our towns, cities, and villages declines for a host of other reasons, the assumption that there will always be retail premises to help out has to be revisited. And the roles and responsibilities taken up once again as a contribution to a changing social jigsaw.

For all the lofty talk about “15-minute cities” there needs to be some thought given to basic provisions if the rhetoric is to be convincing.

Irish Examiner view: Will shoplifting bring down the high street?