Dublin city centre‘s only public toilets, installed at the top of Grafton Street five years ago, are to be shut.
Reduced demand for the toilets has been cited by Dublin City Council in its decision to remove the facility.
The council has been spending almost €400,000 a year to operate the toilets, installed at the St Stephen’s Green end of Grafton Street during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It had initially opened toilets at two locations in 2020, the second at Wolfe Tone Square on the city’s northside.
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The northside toilets were subsequently relocated to Ryders Row off Capel Street but were decommissioned in 2022, with the council citing “complaints of antisocial behaviour in the area and low usage”.
The local authority has now decided to remove the remaining facility on Grafton Street.
“The installation of the unit was initially a short-term arrangement, and a temporary operating model was entered into with a service provider to provide all operational and security functions,” a report to be presented to councillors next Monday states.
“Usage has dropped significantly to 1,500 users per week from its peak in 2021, and the current operator for this unit is ceasing trading. For these reasons Dublin City Council intend to remove this temporary public toilet at the top of Grafton Street shortly.”
Two years ago the council sought expressions of interest for the provision of permanent toilets in the city centre. It has since been in discussions with two providers, the report states.
“One of the service providers who specialise in automated units strongly advised against placing an unmanned/automated public toilet unit in the city centre, due to the significant risk associated with antisocial activity.”
The council’s waste management division has since been exploring “other service provision models”, it said, but a “decision on the preferred operating model has yet” to be made.
The council said it would continue to try to identify two locations in the city centre for “potential” toilets once a correct operating model was identified, with the current Grafton Street location and a site on Prince’s Street, to the side of the GPO, under assessment.
A public toilet was also included in the design brief for the new College Green plaza. Architects Scott Tallon Walker were last June appointed to design the College Green scheme.
The waste management division intends to bring new proposals for the provision of toilets in the city to councillors by the end of September.
In the 1970s there were more than 60 staffed public toilets in Dublin, but by the 1990s the number had been reduced to nine. By the end of that decade all had been closed due to issues including drug abuse and vandalism.
