From this week’s Galway City Tribune – German coach tour visitors to Galway have two main gripes – wet weather and lack of public toilets. 

“The number one complaint I get is the weather, which I can’t do anything about. And then the toilets. ‘Where are toilets? Where are toilets?’ Everyone wants toilets and there are none,” said tour guide Stephanie Flaherty-Klapp.

The former Galway resident works part-time as a guide with White’s of Clare who bring six coaches of mostly Germans to Galway City and county every week during the season.

A pay-per-use toilet was installed at the Cathedral following a campaign in recent years, but it was removed as part of works to install the new bridge at Salmon Weir. It has not returned since the bridge opened.

“If you are coming from Connemara, the Cathedral is where you stop. That means people have had an hour or two hours since their last toilet stop at Kylemore Abbey. Where do you go with the clients, there is nowhere to go now?

“I know there are one or two toilets in Eyre Square but you can’t stop in Eyre Square with a tour bus, there are no facilities. Sometimes we stop in Standún in Spiddal, but again it is private property. You cannot just use the bathroom without the expectation of buying something,” she said.

Photo: where the public toilet was located adjacent to coach parking at the Cathedral.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the August 4 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.