Strand ‘littered with faeces’ due to lack of toilets

BEACHGOERS are defecating in bushes and back gardens at Long Strand, according to Independent Cllr Paul Hayes.

The councillor said he has been shown photographic evidence of the messes people leave behind, and he renewed his appeal to Cork County Council to create a proper public convenience at Long Strand.

Cllr Hayes said Castlefreke Our Woods Our Walks (COWOW), has been very proactive in developing trails around Castlefreke.

Its members have gone to a lot of trouble to provide visitors with signs, trail maps, and information boards, as they walk through coastal, lakeside, and forest walks, he said.

‘Their efforts have been hugely successful in attracting people to this wonderful amenity, but now they have the headache of people knocking on their doors asking for permission to use their loos.

‘Then, there are others,’ he added, ‘who are so indiscriminate as to defecate in places, where they are hidden from view, regardless of the health risk they may be causing.’

‘We have a wonderful amenity here,’ Breda Cooney, the chairperson of COWOW told The Southern Star. ‘We’ve worked very hard to ensure that visitors to the area have a great experience, but the number of people visiting has increased by thousands in the last few years, leaving us with one major problem – the lack of toilets.’

The chairperson said they have approached the Council on many occasions but have not received a positive or definitive response to their request for a public toilet.

She said the committee members feel they have no choice but to highlight what is happening in their area, and to reiterate their calls to the Council to do the right thing and spend the proverbial penny and provide the public with toilet facilities.

‘There were toilets here in the 1980s but they were closed in the early 2000s and now here we are, in 2023, with nothing,’ she added.

Breda Cooney confirmed the councillor’s claims that people have resorted to using the bushes, the back of the old toilets, and the dunes, with the result that the area is littered with human faeces. 

She said the toilet paper is literally blowing in the wind.

In response, Cork County Council told The Southern Star that there were public toilets at the strand, but they were closed over 20 years ago and the building is now being used as a treating station for drinking water by Uisce Eireann. ‘Cork County Council is keeping the prospect of providing alternative facilities under review,’ a spokesperson added.