School Toilets in the News Again

girls’ privacy, dignity and safeguarding are being undermined by Department guidance

The implementation of mixed-sex, open style sanitary facilities in schools has come to the fore again, this time via a picture of toilets in a newly built Educate Together secondary school in Harold’s Cross. The parents of children in the school have expressed dismay over the lack of privacy in the toilets, and are raising concerns over the lack of consultation with parents in the design process.

The Countess has renewed calls for the Government to mandate single-sex toilets and changing facilities in all Irish schools, warning that concerns raised by the organisation in 2021 about mixed-sex sanitary facilities are now becoming a reality across the country.

Mixed-sex toilets are not mandatory; they are a policy decision by schools. However, many schools followed the April 2021 technical document (School Design Guide SDG 02-06 Sanitary Facilities) from the Department of Education, which clearly showed mixed-sex toilet facilities and made no reference to the need for single-sex provision.

Image of mixed-sex toilet, present in April 2021 guidance, removed in November 2021

After The Countess publicly exposed the implications of the April 2021 guidance, the Department of Education was forced into a climbdown and clarified that mixed-sex toilets were not mandatory and that schools could continue to provide single-sex facilities. However, many schools had already taken the guidance as a green light to phase out single-sex provision.

Instead, the guidance focused on reducing bullying opportunities through “passive supervision” and open sightlines into sanitary facilities. The guidance did not address the potential for sex-based harassment or the loss of privacy and dignity where boys and girls are required to share communal sanitary spaces.

The Countess warned in 2021 that the removal of single-sex facilities in schools would jeopardise the safety, privacy and dignity of schoolgirls.

At the time, The Countess highlighted evidence emerging from the UK showing girls avoiding school toilets because of embarrassment, intimidation and “period shaming”, with some risking dehydration and urinary infections rather than use mixed facilities.

Laoise de Brún BL, CEO and Founder of The Countess said:

“The National LGBTIQ+ Inclusion Strategy committed the Irish Government to review and revise school design guidelines to allow for the provision of mixed-sex/single-stall bathrooms and changing rooms in schools. Trans activist groups such as TENI and BelongTo had input into that strategy. It is clear that the April 2021 guidelines were intended to facilitate this. Parents were not consulted.”

De Brún continued:

“We know that these mixed-sex toilets lead to risks to girls. There have been incidents of assaults in UK schools, and some girls are even missing school rather than face “period shaming” from boys. Many girls run the risk of infections because they’d rather deal with a full bladder than use the toilets. Others have simply stopped drinking liquids at school, which can lead to dehydration.”

De Brún explained:

“Irish equality law allows people to be treated differently on the grounds of gender, where ‘embarrassment or breach of privacy could reasonably be expected to happen on account of the presence of a person of another gender’. We are calling on the government to uphold the rights and protections of girls under this exemption, by mandating that single-sex toilets and changing rooms are available in all schools.”

She added:

“We further request that there be a review of all schools where the new design has been implemented, whether single-sex or mixed sex. The open design, chosen to reduce bullying, is unpopular with students and deprives girls of privacy when dealing with additional challenges like menstruation. It behoves us to understand if this deprivation is warranted. Surveys of students, parents and teachers should be carried out before we continue the roll out of this novel design.”

Sorcha Nic Lochlainn, Director of The Countess said:

“The Department of Education has said that schools are accountable for decisions on whether to install single-sex or mixed-sex sanitary facilities but it is clear that schools are either misunderstanding the guidance, or willingly depriving teenagers of privacy and dignity. Parents and students do not want these mixed facilities. Girls are being put at risk, and privacy and dignity for all students is being compromised to appease a minority of ideologues in positions of power.”

Nic Lochlainn went on to say:

“There was climbdown in Kerry in 2023 when a new school build for Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí had no provision for single-sex toilet facilities anywhere on campus. Parents strongly objected and plans were changed to include separate male and female facilities. The principal in that school said the Department of Education guidelines were behind decision to install gender-neutral toilets at the new school. The school ultimately installed separate toilets for girls on the second floor, toilets for boys on the third floor and gender-neutral toilets on the first floor.”

Judith Murphy, Schools and Safeguarding Lead for The Countess, and a former child protection social worker, said:

“Same-sex public toilet facilities are necessary are necessary for the privacy and dignity of both sexes and for the safety of women and girls. Most of all they are vital for the wellbeing of girls from around 10 years old in a co-ed school setting, because the effects of puberty on girls means that they have to get used to the sanitary and emotional complications of menstruation. The embarrassment around this intimate event, especially around boys, can be very intense. The effect of puberty on boys is that the injection of testosterone makes them extremely interested in sexual matters. The female anatomy becomes very interesting to them. They have to learn to manage the sexual urges and preoccupation with sexual thoughts. Groups of boys are prone to making fun of girl’s bodies and bodily function, and to sexually harass and humiliate girls. Girls need their private and intimate spaces to be free of boys and men to feel dignified and safe. Boys also need their single sex toilets for privacy and dignity as there can be some girls who make fun of the boys and their anatomy and sexuality – albeit to a much lesser extent than boys, and with less physical threat to the boys.”

Timeline of the Department of Education guidance which introduced mixed-sex toilets into schools.

April 2021: SDG 02-06 Sanitary Facilities

Initial specs document (School Design Guide (SDG) SDG 02-06 Sanitary Facilities) released. Funding for new buildings, extensions and retrofitting is linked to compliance with the specifications.

Image 1. Present in April guide, Removed in November