Council agrees to do more to provide disabled toilet facilities

Changing facilities in many toilets for disabled persons are often inadequate, a councillor has claimed.

Social Democrat Cllr Ronan Moore has had a motion in the issue accepted by Meath County Council during deliberations on the projected new county development plan.

The council has the aim of providing and access for people with disabilities in order to remove barriers to involvement in community and employment activities. The council added to its policy:

“Furthermore, the council will promote the provision of changing places facilities. It acknowledged that in certain instances standard accessible toilets did not meet the needs of all people with a disability.

The policy said that the provision of these facilities should be met in any new large building development where the public might be expected to spend longer periods of time, for example, educational establishments, health facilities, civic centres, public libraries, cultural buildings, motorway services, sport and leisure facilities, including large hotels.

The council said that all proposals for development should have regard to the provisions of the National Disability Authority’s document ‘Building for Everyone: A Universal Design Approach - Planning and Policy (2012)’, in order to ensure that access and movement through the development is available to all users of the development.

Cllr Moore said that in cases were incontinence was an issue with a disabled person, they would often have to return home and abandon whatever activity they were engaged in because of the lack of changing facilities.

Fine Gael Cllr Noel French said that Athboy had one of these changing facilities, one of 15 throughout the country and Kells had a step down facility.