Telephone boxes used as ‘public toilets’

CLARE County Councillors have reacted angrily to the fact the council may have to pay €1,000 for the removal of telephone kiosks, which have been labelled as “magnets for anti-social behaviour”.

 

Two North Clare councillors this week requested that Clare County Council ask Eircom to remove telephone kiosks in Lahinch, which Councillor Bill Slattery claimed “are being used as public toilets and for other anti-social activity”.

The phoneboxes are located on Main Street and at the Liscannor Road Junction in the resort town. “It is obvious that the kiosks are not being used,” Councillor Richard Nagle stated. “Everyone has a mobile phone now.

“If you visit these kiosks after the weekend you can see the condition they are in and very often the phone is not even working,” he went on.

Councillor Nagle said the kiosks are “magnets for anti-social behaviour” and are “creating a very negative view of Lahinch”.

Responding to motions by Councillors Nagle and Slattery, Stephen Lahiffe, senior executive engineer in the Ennistymon Area Office, stated the council has contacted Eircom in relation to the requests for the removal of the kiosks.

He pointed out he had yet to receive a response from Eircom but that “on the last occasion on which the council issued such a request, Eircom said they would agree if the council was in a position to fund the removal, which they estimated at €1,000 per kiosk”.

Councillor Nagle was incredulous. “I cannot understand how Eircom is looking for money from Clare County Council to remove them. It was them who put them there. They have to be removed,” he stated.

Councillior Bill Slattery outlined the condition of the kiosks, saying they are “broken and vandalised and unused” and that “there is no phone in one of them”. He added, “The ones on the main street are being used as a toilet after the chippers close”.

Acting area co-ordinator Eddie Power called on Eircom to “step up to the plate. If they are unsightly they really should remove them”.

Councillor Joe Arkins raised the possibility of serving Eircom with a notice under the Derelict Buildings Act, in order to avoid the €1,000 charge.