Ireland's Eye: What's going on in the old sod

County Council pulls pulic toilets

Clare County Council has poured cold water over a proposed rebate on water rates for community and voluntary bodies who made their toilet facilities available in places where the authority wasn’t in a position to provide public toilets.

Councilor Martin Conway made this request at a council meeting on Monday where he presented a case to allow businesses in towns where no public toilets were available to receive a small reduction in water rates once people could use their toilets.

He explained there were towns and villages that were not serviced by public toilets where hotels, shops and other businesses made their facilities available to the public.

“I know in Ennistymon there would be 50 people a day coming to a facility in different establishments. I think the council should examine the possibility of providing a small rebate to businesses where it can be proven beyond all doubt that they are making their premises available to the public,” he said.

“I don’t think it is the money, it is a goodwill gesture, and I think they would have no problem in putting a sign telling the public that their toilets are available to be used if this was the case,”

He was supported by Councilor Richard Nagle, while Councilor Joe Arkins stressed there would have to be a sign outside any premises indicating toilet facilities were being made available once they received the rebate.

“I think we could get value for money on a project like this. The council could put a superloo in a place like Ennistymon and it might be paying ***20,000 a year to run a facility which only receives just one offering a week,” he said.

However, finance director of services Noleen Fitzgerald told councilors such a scheme would be difficult to administer as it would be very hard to identify one premises over another when it came to selecting a suitable location for the scheme.

“Under Article 9 of the EU Water Framework directive and the government’s water pricing policy, Clare County Council is required to charge the non-domestic sector the full cost recovery of water services,” she said.
- Clare Champion
 
High-end brothel bust

Two women have been arrested after Gardai uncovered a brothel operating in a four-star hotel which recently opened for business.

The Spanish and Brazilian women, who are both aged in their early twenties, were arrested in the Limerick Hilton Hotel last week.

It is understood that the brothel, which was operating out of a suite in the hotel, was uncovered after hotel staff noticed an increased amount of male visitors to the hotel, which opened for business last year.

Gardai were contacted and arrested the two women in the hotel after a surveillance operation.

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Nster.com