It’s one of those things we can’t seem to get right on Leeside.

While other European cities seem to have a clean and accessible public toilet on every street, it can be difficult to find somewhere to spend a penny in Cork, whether you’re a local or a visitor here.

It’s an issue that Social Democrats local election candidate Pádraig Rice is out to fix, particularly around the Lough, the Lee Fields and the city centre.

“Public toilets are an important public service that the City Council has completely neglected.” said Mr Rice.

“Places like the Lough badly need a public toilet. Parents bring their children to the playground, but there are no toilets. It makes no sense.

“You couldn’t make it up.”

“More public toilets would really benefit not just parents and children but also many older people and people with disabilities.

“The lack of public toilets was really highlighted during the pandemic. There was an issue of people urinating on the lanes by the Lough. But instead of installing a toilet to solve the problem, the Council put up a gate! You couldn’t make it up.”

Mr Rice is calling for accessible public toilets to be installed across the city.

“Most other European cities are capable of providing these essential public services. Paris, for example, has, on average, six public toilets per square km. It shouldn’t be beyond our ability to manage a network of public toilets.” he said.

“In the 1980s, Cork City had 14 public toilets. Given how much the city has grown, we should have a similar number now—if not more.

While public toilets do exist, like the one on Grand Parade, we can all agree they are poorly advertised: “Many locals don’t know they are there – what hope does someone visiting the city have? They need to put up better signs.” added Mr Rice.

“I think the Council needs to start getting the basics right and start focusing on providing better public services for the people of Cork.