Council urged to spend a penny to buy public toilet in Limerick town

COUNCILLORS are urging the local authority to consider purchasing a public toilet in Newcastle West after it emerged the current annual spend of €38,000 is only generating a marginal profit.

The motion, which was submitted by Cllr Tom Ruddle (FG) at a meeting of the Newcastle West Municipal District, concerns the public toilet in the Market Yard in the county town.

Cllr Ruddle revealed the toilet, which is contracted out by Limerick City and County Council, costs €38,013 per year to run and turns a profit of only €2,607.

He asked: “Would the council consider buying its own toilet or considering buying outright a toilet that is already in the Market Yard.”

He stressed that the toilet, which costs 25 cent to use, is costing the local authority over €700 per week and stressed that only 10,000 people per year are using it - an actual cost of €3.80 per person.

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Cllr Liam Galvin (FG) supported his colleague’s motion and described the figures as “mind-blowing” and “not sustainable”, stressing that there must be a cheaper way of running toilets in a town.

He referenced Castleisland in Kerry as an example of a town with a perfectly run public toilet.

Cllr John Sheahan (FG) suggested that councillors write to their counterparts in the Municipal District which encompasses Castleisland to ask them about their method of running their public toilets so effectively.

In response to the motion, a council official said it currently has a contract in place with a private contractor for the provision and maintenance of the public toilet facility in Newcastle West.

“I have opened dialogue with the providers and hope to report back at the next monthly meeting with an update,” stated Martin Curran, Senior Staff Officer with the local authority.