A carved granite plinth with perforated metal roundels, wrought-iron railings with shamrock heads and a cast-iron ventilation shaft with stylised foliage located at the junction of Kevin Street and New Street and built around the year 1900.
This might sound like a description of one of Dublin's architectural gems but it is actually information from the website of Ireland's National Built Heritage Service (NBHS) about a former toilet block that still stands in the heart of Dublin's south inner city, not far from St Stephen's Green.
The NBHS website notes the facility "was one of a number that were built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in response to an increasing demand for public facilities in the city".
Underground facilities such as this were partially hidden from general view in order to satisfy Victorian perceptions of decency.
But a century and a quarter later Dublin no longer has public toilets like these and the prospect of providing permanent facilities like this now comes with a multi-million euro price tag.
A report by Dublin City Council earlier this year said that "on street" public toilet infrastructure in Dublin City Council has "significantly declined over the past several decades". In the 1970s, there were over 60 operating across the city, by the end of the 1990s they had all been closed.
The report said: "The decline and closure were influenced by various factors, such as vandalism, drug abuse, and criminal activity within these units, alongside the upgrading of streetscapes.
"Many city centre toilet units were located just below street level, for example, at College Green, O'Connell Street, and Burgh Quay, where the risk of anti-social and criminal behaviour was higher.
"The council's decision to close these units was based not only on costs but also on the challenges of maintaining safe and hygienic infrastructure, which posed significant liability concerns in case of public injury."
So, from the start of the millennium until the pandemic struck in 2020 there were no on street public toilets in Dublin city.
However, during lockdown, the council installed two temporary toilet units, one just off Grafton Street, the other off Henry Street to cater for the fact that cafés, restaurants, and shopping centre facilities were all closed.
During the summers of 2020 and 2021 as public health restrictions continued, those units had 23,000 visits a week.
In 2022 after the retail sector fully reopened, dwindling numbers saw the closure of the northside facility but the one at the top of Grafton Street continued to have around 1,800 visits a week and remains operational.
The council is now trying to provide more permanent facilities in the area, and the report outlines the extensive research they have done on the issue.
They looked at using unoccupied retail units to locate toilets but found little appetite among property owners.
'Significant risk of criminal activity'
They also examined the option of automatic cubicles but were advised against this because of they posed "a significant risk of criminal activity".
The report said while the council acknowledges the need to provide public toilets and pointed out that it does in many of its public facilities, such as libraries and sports centres, "the provision of public toilets is a contentious issue for all local authorities, as demand, value for money, and associated risks must all be assessed when deciding whether to install public toilets".
"Operating 'on-street' public toilets in a large city presents challenges and risks, particularly the risk of anti-social behaviour, which has previously led to the closure of such facilities in Dublin City," it said.
The report also cites a website that helps people locate more than 50 non-council operated public toilets in facilities such as retail outlets, churches, train stations and museums.
But the most eye-catching part of the report was the councils outline of how much it might cost to operate permanent public toilets in the capital.
They have identified four areas in the city centre with high footfall which it believes could benefit from public toilet facilities: South King Street, Barnardo Square, O'Connell Street/Princess and Smithfield Square.
The cost of operating and running these for just five years is estimated to be almost €6 million.
€1.3 million of this will be the cost of designing, building, and installing four or five cubicles and a kiosk at each of the four locations.
€4.4 million is the estimated cost of maintaining the four units for a five-year period, which breaks down to around €200,000 per unit per year or €800,000 for all four per annum and assumes a rate of 5% inflation over the period.
The report notes: "This is only an estimate, and a more accurate cost will be determined on completion of the procurement process."
"The costs listed above are exclusively for the four new on-street toilet units in the central commercial district," it says.
"Additional costs for providing toilets outside the central commercial district, such as in parks, are separate and will be budgeted accordingly."
A process to provide facilities in parks is also not proving straightforward.
The Dublin Inquirer recently reported on the construction of a tearoom and toilet facility in Merrion Square Park, which was due to open this autumn, but appears to be stalled and its price tag increased from €3.4 to €4.9 million.
The publication also notes that promised café and toilet facilities at Seán Moore Park in Ringsend which went to tender in 2021 have not been built because its reported contractors "deemed the cost of installing utilities at the coastal park as unviable".
A planned tearoom and public toilets for Palmerstown Park in Rathmines announced before the general election last year is also awaited.
New public toilet plans to be presented in coming months
Dublin City Council say that plans for the new public toilets in the city centre are due to be presented to councillors in the coming months and that in considering where to locate these units, they have to be sensitive to the city centre location, the local cultural heritage that surrounds them and how they can be effectively managed.
Green Party councillor for Dublin's South East Inner City Claire Byrne says despite what she described as the "eye watering" costs involved in providing these facilities, they need to be delivered.
"I feel like there's a real lack of understanding and a lack of sense for urgency on providing what's the most basic service that any modern-day city should be providing to its citizens," she said.
"I think Covid really exposed how poor we have been in terms of providing those basic services as a city. When you look at our neighbouring councils like Fingal and South Dublin County Council, they're managing to put compost toilets in on their beaches but yet, for some reason, Dublin City Council can't seem to do that."
"I feel like rather than solving the solution, we just keep having the same conversation," she added.
"Had they not been sitting on their hands, the costs wouldn't be ratcheting up in the way that they have been.
"We can't keep just blaming the risk of anti-social behaviour to not provide basic facilities in the city. We have a moral obligation to provide that infrastructure for our tax paying citizens.
"I do think the costs are eye watering, but had we moved quicker, I don't think we would be facing such significant costs at this stage.
"But I still firmly believe that they need to be provided."
