Dublin's Lord Mayor Hazel Chu has said the roll out of public toilets and extra bins in the capital 'shouldn't have taken this long'.
She was speaking after it was announced that over 100 portable toilets and extra bins are to be provided across the city from this bank holiday weekend.
The portable toilets will be open from 10.00am to 11.00pm every day.
They will be in popular spots across the capital - including areas such as Temple Bar, Merrion Square, South King Street and Dame Lane.
There will also be 54 large bins and 80 barrel bins, with a specific focus on high footfall areas.
Lord Mayor Chu told Lunchtime Live a lot of work has gone into the plan.
"We have portaloos - I know we shouldn't sound so happy saying that, but we do.
"The council is providing 150 portaloos, there will be more barrel bins around, and we are working with the Gardaí for a plan.
"Monitoring is under their remit, so we're working this week a lot."
Asked why the measures took until now to be implemented, she said they were waiting for clear direction from the Government.
"The Department of Housing confirmed... that the local authorities needed to do this.
"The reason it required that is if the facilities were provided, and it was seen as Dublin City Council encouraging a mass gathering, then the council would have been held responsible.
"And we wanted clear direction from Government, and that's what I've been asking [for] from my Cabinet colleagues who brought it to the Cabinet table.
"And Darragh O'Brien was very good to provide the clarity, and then we were able to roll them out very quickly.
"It shouldn't have taken this long, let's be honest.
"Across the board both local authority and Government should have been very clear from the beginning, but it wasn't.
"And now that it is, let's provide for it as much as we can".
Mayor Chu said the argument that such facilities may actually attract more crowds is not valid.
"It could be a valid argument if the crowds weren't already coming.
"So the whole 'build and they will come' doesn't really work when people are already there.
"And when people are there we need to provide - because we need to make sure people can socialise safely, and we need to provide the facilities for them as well.
"So if there weren't people already coming in, I would say 'Yeah that argument holds weight' but right now there are people coming in.
"And we also are trying to encourage people to come in to support local business.
"We want them to come into the city, so we must provide facilities for them".
The toilets will be located at:
South side
- Sycamore St
- Temple Bar Square
- Chatham Row
- Sth King Street
- Coppinger Row
- Dame Court
- Dame Lane
- Merrion Square
North side
- Wolfetone Sq.
- Central median on O’Connell Street
- Smithfield – South end
- Royal Canal
- Mountjoy Sq.
- Diamond Park
