Forget Y2K, it was a Millennium Bog that was on the agenda in Dublin last night as the winners of a competition to design a new loo were announced.
NCAD design students Simon Madden and Rob Hennessy received the top prize at a reception in Temple Bar Gallery for their prototype of an on-street urinal, the P-Post.
This was definitely one for the men, particularly the increasing numbers who tend to mistake walls, ATM machines, doorways and gardens for toilets.
The P-Post is as small as a phone booth, but accommodating enough to spend a penny in. While the stable-style doors don't allow for much privacy, its designers say the openness of the structure allows users to identify easily that the urinal is occupied.
The other virtue, they say, is that it is secure enough to urinate in yet not enclosed enough to allow any illegal activities. Passers by will be pleased to note the flushing door grate designed to catch any "dribbles" that may result.
In second place was a toilet that looked like a bucket designed for use in bus or railway stations.
The Unisex Nightclub Urinal by Declan Leddy and Sally Anne Tong came third.
Another nightclub toilet by Robert Stevenson and Monique D'arcy was designed as a "catchall for urinating, defecating and vomiting".
The Design a New Millennium Toilet Competition was held jointly by NCAD and pharmaceutical company Pharmacia and Upjohn to raise awareness of bladder control problems.
The project will form part of the final year of industrial design students at the college.
As well as ensuring their designs were environmentally correct and encouraged good posture many of the students had strived to eliminate the age old problem of MWLTTSU - Men Who Leave The Toilet Seat Up.
Several millennium marriages will not now end in the divorce courts thanks to infra-red technology which completes the task automatically.
Now if somebody would just invent a device to put the cap back on the toothpaste . . .
All the entries are being exhibited in the Temple Bar Gallery on Eustace Street until Saturday. Ad- missions is free.