Urinating visitors deterred by Custy’s shock

JOHN O’Connor’s electric wiring device to deter late night urinators appears to be doing its job with all but one visitor to his door this past weekend. However, his story, which broke first in The Clare Champion, has sent a shockwave around the world.
John, who owns Custy’s Traditional Music Shop in Ennis, told The Clare Champion last week of his fury and disgust with men and women, who were not only urinating but defecating at the entrance to his shop on Cooke’s Lane in the town.
Since then, his story has featured on national bulletins at home, in the UK, across the continent and it has even reached China.
Following the long weekend, it is clear that the message is getting out there. However, John still had one visitor to his door for a bit of relief, who was instead met with quite a shock.
John has warned that this particular person faces another nasty sting, as his face has also been captured on CCTV footage and a still image is now with Ennis gardaí.
“I augmented one of my CCTV cameras to a state-of-the-art camera, which has given me high-quality footage. I’m doing my best to clean up my area but I think to eliminate this problem, we need a multi-faceted approach to it.
“I’ve tried to ensure my place is not a health and safety issue and what’s ironic about all this is that I could be closed down by the Health and Safety Authority if I wasn’t to clean up my doorway.
“That’s the crazy thing about it. It’s now up to the law to do something and I feel if there’s a will, there’s a way.
“If this person can’t be prosecuted by the gardaí, then I have every intention of putting these mug-shot CCTV stills up on poles around Ennis,” John stressed.
While the issue has been highlighted on a global scale, John is calling for more support among the business and local community in Ennis to try to eradicate the issue, which is one that is not exclusive to Cooke’s Lane.
He complimented the work of the council’s street cleaners, who face this problem every day and raised concern about what visitors to the town make of such carry-on.
“We have a session week taking place soon and then the international trad festival will be held and people urinating in laneways sends the wrong message.
“With the massive publicity that this has got, I think people need to take a good look at themselves in the mirror because urinating in public is disgraceful,” he concluded.