Knock toilets 'becoming a shantytown' claims Mayo councillor

Mayo County Councillor Richard Finn has moved to question the closure of public toilets in Knock on weekends.

The East Mayo town regularly sees thousands of tourists come to the county, both from Ireland and beyond, on Saturdays and Sundays to visit Knock Shrine.

However, the issue of toilet facilities is one which has caught the eye across weekends, according to Cllr Finn.

"I don't know how many phone calls I have got over the summer in relation to this," he stated.

The Independent councillor stated that when he queried the closure during the busiest times of the week for the Shrine, he was informed that they were closed due to wet floors.

"This is no answer to me, where a million and a half people are coming into a village, and no public toilet, no places to go, getting off buses.

"I know, and there are photographs there to prove that there was no water on the floors."

Cllr Finn also moved to discuss the upkeep of the toilet facilities in the town.

"There has to be something done in relation to the tidying up of the stalls in Knock, which are essentially now becoming a shanty town, where people are leaving them empty.

"I might not be the most popular for saying it, but people are leaving them empty, and they're not being looked after, where the ones who are running their businesses there are trying to keep their businesses open and making a living.

"They deserve a better service than what they're getting."

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.