Dublin City Council is installing temporary public toilet facilities on streets in Dublin as shopping centres, restaurants and pubs remain closed due to coronavirus, also known as Covid-19.
From Monday, phase two of the government’s roadmap for reopening society and businesses will begin, allowing street-facing stores to reopen.
However, concerns were raised about public bathroom facilities for shoppers, as many of them are located in shopping centres, restaurants and pubs, all of which are not permitted to reopen until later in the Summer.
In light of this issue, the council has placed temporary public toilets at St Stephen’s Green and Wolfe Tone Square, while public toilets will also be available at the Ilac Centre, St Patrick’s Park at City Hall off Barnardo Square.
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A spokesman for the council said people travelling to the city should “be mindful” of very limited public facilities such as bathrooms and toilets due to the non-availability of restaurants, pubs and hotels during this phase.
Speaking at the launch of a campaign about the health and safety regulations being put in place, Brendan Kenny, chief executive of Dublin City Council, said the local authority has been in talks with local businesses about what is required for reopening the city safely.
"A key part of that is access to public toilets. We've installed public toilets at the top of Grafton Street this morning and others are going into place over the weekend. Those are the public toilet facilities that will be in place by Monday," Mr Kenny said.
The council has also put a number of health and safety measures in place, such as placing decals and stickers on the ground on Grafton Street and Henry Street to mark out where people should queue so they can abide by social distancing.
Shoppers can expect queues to enter stores, changing rooms being shut and staff wearing personal protective equipment.
