State of loos criticised

A claim that the public toilets in the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District are often unusable due to cleanliness issues has been made by Cllr Hazel Smyth.

Calling at the September meeting of the district to have an improved cleaning schedule put in place, Cllr Smyth said she had been disappointed to receive complaints about the state of the facilities considering how happy she had been that they had finally been provided.

By way of response, the executive of the district stated that the portable toilets provided at amenities over the summer season and beyond are serviced once per week by the supplier and additional interim cleaning is carried out by the district during busy periods.

The response added that the toilets are continuously monitored.

“It’s just really disappointing that a lot of people who are using the toilets have got in contact with me to say that they are really unusable because of the lack of cleaning,” said Cllr Smyth.

While there was an onus on people to respect the facilities and to properly adhere to general courtesy, she said she also thought as a municipal district, the authority should also be increasing the cleaning schedule.

Cllr Smyth added that she thought once-weekly cleaning was not sufficient.

Cllr Aoife Davitt agreed, and said she had also received complaints about the condition of the toilets at Ladestown.

Director of services Deirdre Reilly said there had been a huge amount of effort put in over the summer months by the outdoor staff and the community wardens.

She said it was not that the toilets were cleaned once a week –she explained that they were serviced once a week, and checked and cleaned in the interim.