Donegal beach portaloos a ‘bad stain’ on the county

Donegal Municipal District councillors slammed the upkeep and cleanliness of portaloos at its beaches after popular local beaches like Rossnowlagh attracted huge crowds of visitors this past sweltering weekend.

Councillors in the July monthly meeting of the Donegal MD suggested that there should be a proper understanding of the money paid to the cleaning services of portaloos within the county, questioning whether the company was “fit for purpose” and looking at building a fixed toilet facility, or eco-portaloo facility.

Cllr Niamh Kennedy, an independent, opened the discussion, as she said: “I have to say the company are not active enough. They are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.

“They don’t seem to care. To be going on every summer, same issue. I know another councillor in West Donegal had seven or eight issues.

“They are accepting the contract and laughing all the way to the bank.

“There is money there in putting in proper facilities, and I think we need to look at that.”

Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Micheál Naughton followed: “I would like it if we could get a breakdown on the spending, on what these companies are getting paid a year for portaloos.

“I think a toilet would work out cheaper in the long run. Rossnowlagh is probably one of the biggest beaches in this area, and we need to look at public toilets as a matter of urgency. We had portaloos there that were overflowing.

“How much would it cost to do a unisex toilet? If you were running it as a business, it would be a calamity. Throwing good money at bad. I know it would cost money to the council in the short term, but in the long term, it would hold.

Sinn Féin’s Bundoran-based councillor, Michal McMahon, stated: I was in Rossnowlagh three times to see the situation for myself, and I was promised by the company that they were en route, and they didn’t turn in until this morning (July 14). Four days of a weekend of the hottest summer weekend we have had this year.

“I am asking that we meet sooner rather than later to review the contract with the company because they are not fit for purpose. I probably made 11 or 12 calls yesterday, and in Bundoran, the same.

“It is not good enough for the people trying to promote tourism in Donegal.

“The most important thing is that those portaloos, that are not serviced correctly. In Bundoran, we look after our own toilets.

“I am asking for somebody to step forward in Rossnowlagh to clean the toilets.

“We need to see how much he is getting and how much is coming. It really annoys me that on 11 occasions, he was going to be there and he didn’t turn up.

“We need to sort this out very quickly, because it is a bad stain on our town and county. If they are not prepared to do the work, we are not going to let a company get away with that. We had plenty of sunshine and heat, and the problem we had was that the portaloos were not cared for, and that is unacceptable.

“It is a Donegal company, and we don’t want to be putting any company out of business but we need action.”

Fellow Sinn Féin councillor, Noel Jordan, told the meeting that the council should look at the possibility of installing eco-portaloos.

He said: “Last year, I suggested that we look at finding a mechanism to provide eco-portaloos. There are three or four of them in the country, and they are a huge success.

“We are spending a huge amount of money on portaloos. Even if we provide each area of the Municipal District with a few eco-portaloos, it would save money.

“It is mayhem out there! We don’t want to be running into next year with the same problem, but that is where it looks like it is going.”

A representative of Donegal County Council’s environmental branch responded to councillor's comments. She said: “In terms of concerns raised to portaloos, over the weekend, we experienced unprecedented weather, which puts pressure on the beach management.

“The council has arrangements in place with the contractor. It is clear that there was considerable pressure on the service. We acknowledge the concerns.”