€250,000 Tipperary toilet revamp branded ‘a joke’ comes in under budget
A new public toilet facility in Tipperary that was mooted to cost €250,000 has come in considerably under budget, it has been confirmed.
Tipperary County Council received a total of €250,000 in funding from the Government to completely revamp the public toilets in the Market Yard in Tipperary town.
The funding came from the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, and is for the refurbishment and provision of universal access including mother and baby facilities, as well as a changing places facility for those with additional needs.
Many locals took to social media last year calling the funding “a joke” and questioning how a block of toilets could cost so much.
The new toilets will cost 40c for someone to use, and can be paid by card only.
The new facilities opened on Friday but were forced to close after a few hours due to a payment system issue.
At the March meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, Sinn Féin councillor Annemarie Ryan welcomed the new facilities, and asked for a final cost figure on the project.
"The administrator’s report said that the project came in under budget, which is really good to hear, but could you give us the final cost for it please?" Cllr Ryan asked.
“The big fear I had was in relation to designation, we have three individual cubicles, can we designate them as one male, one female and one for wheelchair users, because the feedback on the ground is – and I as a woman – I don’t particularly like sharing a toilet with men, most of the time,” she said.
The Sinn Féin councillor also raised concerns about the cost of using the toilets, and the fact that it can only be paid by card, and not by cash.
"People have contacted me about the charge, it’s 40c per use, it feels quite excessive. Is that a standard charge? I’ve had people say to me, ‘could it not be 20c?’ and people did also ask about the use of cash,” Cllr Ryan said.
In response, Frank Cussen, one of the council’s project engineers said that the project came in almost €100,000 under budget.
"The overall cost of installing the facility as a whole was €180,000, so considerably less than what we got from the Department,” Mr Cussen said.
Cllr Ryan was told that the toilets are card-only due to fears around vandalism and the potential theft of cash from the facility.
The toilets are expected to reopen this week once issues with the payment system are fixed.