Introduction

Following on from bringing this up in my own blog I thought that it would be worth posting this in its own blog. Personally, I think that the state of some of the public toilets available is terrible and just because you have one doesn't mean that you are providing a service. They should also be usable.

Ireland relies heavily on tourism and as such these amenities are essential - bus stations, train stations, petrol stations, cafe, restaurants all rely on tourists and its about time they treated these as people rather than commodities.

So, after some careful consideration here is the rating system for the various public toilets that I have encountered.

The system will be points based with each area marked out of 10 with ten being the highest. Points will be added and an overall percentage will be given to the toilet and put on a leaderboard. Off course over the weeks a cut off point will made so that in order to be considered acceptable you should get the minimum points.

Here are the details I need.

Name - What is the name of the building. For example: 'Tom's Petrol Station, Statoil, New Town"
County - If the station is in Ireland then which county.
Location - How do you get to the building and where are the toilets in it. For example: As you enter New Town from the Dublin road the station is on your right hand side. Toilets are outside on the left-hand side of the building.

Area Cleanliness - Is the area clean and presentable, i.e. walls, door?
Smell/Odour - Is there a good/bad/no odour? Is there a facility for removing odour?
Running Water - Is there running water? Is there hot water? Is there cold water? Whats the water pressure like?
Hand Wash/Soap - Is there handwash?
Hand dryer/towels - Can you dry your hands? Is the machine working? Is there paper in the holder?
Toilet paper - Was there toilet paper and was it clean and dry?
Sanitary Bin - Was there anywhere to dispose of sanitary waste?
State of the floor - Was the floor dry? Was it safe? Any broken tiles, etc?
State of the toilet - Was there a toilet seat? Was the toilet functional? Was it blocked? Was it clean? Did it flush?
Toilet checklist - Was there a checklist to show when the toilet was checked and was it in a visible location?
Other - Anything else that may be positive or negative (negative marks can be given here). Maybe there was only toilet for all customers or maybe there were three or four. Maybe the toilets were upstairs and no facilities for disabled people to use them. Maybe the door didn't lock.
Overall Comments - Please provide some overall comments on the toilet facilities.


I welcome any comments or even your own ratings of toilets - anywhere ! Simply send on the details with the above information:
Toilet location (full address if possible)
Ratings based on above.
If you have a picture, send it on...