THE closure of a public facility in the heart of Dublin city centre has been announced.
The public toilets at the top of the capital’s main thoroughfare, Grafton Street, will no longer be in use.
The facility was located next to the famous St Stephen’s Green park at the top of the shopping street.
They were installed five years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since then, the council has spent almost €40,000 a year to operate the toilets.
But reduced demand for the amenity has resulted in their closure.
Originally, the toilets were installed in two locations across Dublin – St Stephen’s Green and Wolfe Tone Square on the city’s north side.
The toilets on the river Liffey’s north side were later moved to Ryders Row off Capel Street.
But they were also closed in 2022 due to “low usage and anti social behaviour”, according to the council.
In a report to be presented to councillors next Monday, it’s stated that the toilets were only ever supposed to be a short term instalment.
The report reads: “The installation of the unit was initially a short-term arrangement, and a temporary operating model was entered into with a service provider to provide all operational and security functions.
“Usage has dropped significantly to 1,500 users per week from its peak in 2021, and the current operator for this unit is ceasing trading.
“For these reasons Dublin City Council intend to remove this temporary public toilet at the top of Grafton Street shortly.”
Elsewhere in Dublin city, a new traffic light system to target phone obsessed pedestrians has been installed.
In a new test move, Dublin City Council have installed the feature on busy Tara street.
The new lights aim to target those who are looking down at their phones or are otherwise distracted.
They light the ground up red in time with the traffic lights in order to catch the attention of distracted people.
Should the lights be successful, there are plans to install them around the city.
They’ve already been used and deemed successful in European countries including Poland and The Netherlands.
But some have dubbed the new lights “zombie lights” due to the fact that they do away with the need to look around you.
A spokesperson for the council told Extra.ie: “DCC have been trialling this technology at Tara Street for a number of months.“
They added that the council “will also be trialling different technology at other crossings to determine if there is any requirement for this type of technology to be rolled out at other locations.”
The public toilets will be removed[/caption]