Large stores in Mayo criticised for lack of public toilets

All businesses should be mandated to have a public toilet, a local councillor has claimed.

During a discussion on the need for funding to maintain standards at the public toilets in Knock village, Cllr Michael Burke told the October meeting of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District that many large department stores do not have public toilets.

 “I met an elderly person in one in Castlebar who wanted to use the toilet last week, a woman with a stick, yet they would not facilitate her. This store is around 20,000 square feet but they directed her instead to go across the road.

“A small coffee shop is told in relation to planning permission that it has to have two toilets, one for staff and one for the public, which also must be disability friendly, but you have big stores in Castlebar that will not facilitate a person to use a toilet, when there should be two or three of them. Of course, there are businesses that do, but this is a problem in every town now where businesses don’t want to hear of anyone wanting to go to the toilet.

“I think it should be a planning condition on every store that they have a facility whenever someone wants to use a toilet; and it is not good enough to be able to say a toilet is closed. I walked around to see if there was anyone to help this poor lady and was told to go across the road to McDonalds. In this day and age, that is a terrible service. Those big stores don’t seem to have any obligation to provide toilets to their customers and we need to see the planning that applies to small shops apply also to big shops, where someone could spend over an hour shopping.” 

Cllr Patsy O’Brien said: “In a lot of filling stations you have to ask for a key to use the toilet. I remember back in the day people felt compelled to help anybody who needed to use the facilities. Things happen and people need the services and it should be in every planning permission. If businesses want the public and the public’s money, they should be forthcoming with public services."

Cllr Damien Ryan asked council management whether a condition could be attached to rates to compel businesses to have public toilets, saying: “You can’t tell a business how to operate but facilities should be available for the public.” 

Cllr Richard Finn said he was not advocating for public toilets in all towns, recalling how such proposals in times past had led to a lot of pressure and strife, given that public toilets bring with them a lot of anti-social behaviour, as he stated: “So our duty of care is to the local communities.” 

Head of the municipal district, Padraig Flanagan, told the forum: “I would be very confident that any new planning permission granted to businesses in the last 20 or 30 years would show that public toilets are obliged under their planning." He called on councillors to make known any specific cases they wished the council to look in to.

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.