IN A WEEK when it was announced that the partial-boil notice on drinking water in Ennis is to be lifted, waterworks of a different kind were drawing attention to the Co Clare town. The issue of public urination came to the fore recently when local shop owner John O'Connor was forced to install an electric fence outside his shop to deter would-be urinators, for whom the streets and lanes of Ennis have become an open bathroom, writes BRIAN O'CONNELL
O’Connor says the publicity surrounding his dramatic move has ensured his shop avoided late-night relievers last weekend. For now, he has removed the shock treatment. Yet the problem persists in other parts of the town.
So much so, in fact, that local Labour councillor, Paul O’Shea, wants Clare County Council to back plans for two “urine wardens” to patrol the streets at weekends. The wardens, jokingly referred to as “wee-wee wardens” by one member of the public, will have the task of spotting would-be sprinklers and notifying local gardaí.
Cllr O’Shea, who is chairman of the Joint Policing Committee in Ennis, hopes his idea will be adopted at a December meeting of Clare County Council. He says he already has strong backing from fellow councillors as well as the mayor of Ennis, Frankie Neylon.
“The idea is that two wardens would be taken on for a pilot project of six months, working from Thursday to Monday,” says O’Shea. “They would have radio or phone contact with the local gardaí, and if they identify someone urinating, they would make contact, and the gardaí could arrive on the scene.”
Asked who would apply for the urine warden posts, O’Shea notes that “There are thousands on the dole here in Clare; lots would take it.”
The issue of public urination is not unique to Ennis, and indeed has authorities all over Europe trying to come up with ways to tackle the problem. For example, the mayor of Paris eliminated all charges for public toilets in 2007, and a device that deflected urine back on to the offender’s legs was tried out. But, generally, the problem persists late at night in urban centres. There have been calls for public urination to be afforded sex-offence status in some countries, while others have forced culprits to wash the lanes and walls of their towns as punishment.
In Ennis, though, local business owners are sceptical about the latest plan to police the piddlers. Gearoid Mannion, whose company, Tom Mannion Travel, is adjacent to a public laneway, says: “I don’t think the urine wardens are a runner. The serious side is that the urine is a problem, and we would see the solution to be improved street-lighting. If the lane beside us was really bright, you wouldn’t have half the number there at night.”
Jim O’Dowd, of O’Dowd’s Convenience Store, is similarly unconvinced. “We can’t even afford gardaí in Ennis, not to mind urine wardens. The problem is down to bad manners and ignorance.”
Paul Madden, managing director of Temple Gate Hotel, says his biggest problem is the noise of late-night revellers outside his premises. He believes that public urination is “a national problem and Ennis is no different to anywhere else. To employ someone in this economic climate to patrol the streets would make us the laughing stock of the country.”
If the plan does go ahead, who in the town would take up the job offer to become a member of the pee patrol?
Local resident Elaine Kerrigan, for one, won’t be handing in her CV. “Not in my wildest dreams would I consider taking up this position,” she says. “I will stick to the mundane world of accountancy, thank you very much.”
Kerrigan feels the plan is sending out all the wrong signals, and that the logistics of it will make it impossible to carry through. “I would be curious to know how Clare County Council would train potential urine wardens to force the offending youths of Ennis to pull up their zips and walk away on a Saturday night,” she says. “Another question is: how will urinators be identified if fined and brought to court? This proposal reads like a scene from a Jim Carrey movie – insanely funny but not in the slightest bit in touch with reality.”
Pee-free streets: ideas
The Green Party’s Cllr Brian Meaney points out that Ennis could adopt the same measures as other countries where offenders are made to wash streets and lanes as punishment. Meaney feels also that the current law is too lax and that fines need to be increased in line with litter laws. As the law currently stands in Ireland, urinating in public can carry an on-the-spot fine of €80.
Ennis could follow the lead of Victoria, state capital of British Columbia in Canada, which installed public urinals that emerge from below the street at night. The urinals are exposed, with no doors, and are already installed in several European cities. Other cities, such as Amsterdam, have installed their own version of portable public urinals, which blend in with the surrounding terrain.
If you find yourself bursting for a bathroom in Botswanathough, think twice before relieving yourself outdoors. The act would be likely to get you a hefty fine, or two months in jail, or both.
