Cllr Terry O’Flaherty has confirmed that progress is being made on finalising plans to provide new automated toilet facilities at Ballyloughane Beach.
Galway City Council are in advanced talks with Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water ) on what the project will entail, and to establish how much it will cost.
“The council are hoping to go to tender on the design of the project in the third quarter of this year once these discussions with Uisce Éireann are completed,” said the Independent councillor.
The plans entails installing an automatic public convenience, consisting of three toilet units, including a disabled toilet, along with baby changing facilities and a kiosk.
Cllr O’Flaherty said that the provision of changing shelter at the location would have to be undertaken as a separate project, as trying to include them in the current proposal would mean that the new toilets plan would have to go back to square one in the planning process which could take up to eighteen months.
“I’m glad, though, that there is progress being made in advancing the toilets plan, which will be very much welcomed by the huge numbers of people who enjoy Ballyloughane Beach or who go for walks in the area.
“It will also mean that the Council will no longer have to allocate staff to opening and closing the current toilet block every day.”
Meanwhile, Cllr O’Flaherty has delivered letters to a number of houses near Ballyloughane beach which only have private sewage disposal units, advising them to apply to Uisce Éireann to be connected to the public sewerage system.
“It costs nothing to make what is called a pre-connection enquiry to Uisce Éireann, who will assess the scale of the work they would need to do and give an estimate of the costs involved.
“Once the householders have this information, they will be in a position to decide what is the next step they should take and what options are available to them,” Cllr O’Flaherty added.
