Kerry County Council has confirmed people will be charged a fee for using the toilets and showers at a new facility in Fenit.
The council stated there’d be a nominal fee charged for anyone using these facilities.
This was in response to a motion from Sinn Féin councillor Paul Daly at the recent Tralee Municipal District meeting.
Cllr Paul Daly asked Kerry County Council if there would be a charge for those using the wet changing facility in Fenit, which is to be opened soon.
The council says this water sports facility at Fenit is one of 19 being developed across 13 counties, including two additional centres in Kerry, located in Ballybunion and Magherabeg.
It says each facility will offer a best-in-class outdoor tourism amenity, offering year-round access to hot indoor showers and outdoor cold showers, changing spaces, wheelchair-accessible toilets and showers, as well as accessible changing places and secure storage for personal use.
Kerry County Council says to support the ongoing maintenance and high standards of service, a nominal fee will be charged; it'll be 50 cent for the use of toilet facilities and €3 for use of the indoor hot shower facilities at all 19 sites across the country.
It says this fee has been benchmarked against similar public service sites and is necessary to ensure local authorities can sustainably operate these bespoke visitor experiences.
Cllr Paul Daly says he thinks this will be a fantastic facility that will be well-used, however, he adds that he is totally against charging people for using it.
He thinks it isn’t right to charge the public for this facility which he says was paid for using public money, adding people aren’t charged to use the greenway and he can’t get his head around such a charge.
