CLONAKILTY, with its vibrant artistic community, is perfectly poised to come up with a design for new public toilets that could become a tourist attraction in itself, just like the famous loos in Kawakawa in New Zealand, according to a local TD.
With no public facility at the moment due to ongoing works in the town, Fianna Fáil Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan said that now is the time to get creative and get rid of the super loo that is the only public convenience in the town.
‘The biggest concern at the moment is that there are no public toilet facilities in Clonakilty and you have the likes of hotels and restaurants catering for people’s toilet needs which is not fair,’ Deputy O’Sullivan told The Southern Star.
‘They’re talking about putting back in the super loo near the fire station when the works are done, but there’s a bigger problem there as the super loo is a disaster and it’s costing too much to rent. The contract is coming to an end soon so there’s a huge opportunity there to do something really special in Clonakilty.’
Deputy O’Sullivan said the inspiration came from the famous Hundertwasser public toilets in Kawakawa in New Zealand designed by world famous artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. With its stunning design, mosaic work, and the use of recycled bottles and tiles it’s not surprising that it’s the main tourist attraction there.
‘Since I first suggested this idea I’ve been contacted by numerous people who told me that the only reason they visited Kawakawa was to see the public toilets there.
‘Clonakilty has so many talented artists, sculptors, painters and people who use mosaics and there’s a huge opportunity there to come up with a design for new toilets and obviously the onus is on Cork County Council to provide accessible facilities for the public.’
Deputy O’Sullivan is writing to Cork County Council to encourage them to consider this idea and he said there are a lot of people in Clonakilty who are willing to get behind it too.
Several artists have already contacted Deputy O’Sullivan about this push for something creative to be done.
‘The idea of Jungle Jacks following on from the Jungle City idea is just one of many ideas already coming in and it could tie in well with that,’ he said.
