Infrastructure Minister Chris Thomas said that he hopes Castletown Commissioners and his department can work together to solve the public toilet issue.

After Castletown Commissioners made a statement saying that the authority had been in contact with the Department of Infrastructure since August to try to keep the toilets open, Mr Thomas responded with: ‘Perhaps one solution they [the commissioners] might want to take forward is to purchase these toilets.’

The facilities, which are located on Back Hope Street, are owned by the Department of Infrastructure but were leased out to the local authority which undertakes cleaning and minor maintenance.

Mr Thomas said the toilets were not necessary for ‘harbour users’ and providing public toilets is not the ‘core business’ for harbours.

The local authority has previously offered to clean the toilets if they were refurbished by the DoI.

The department said it will not do this because they are not a ‘required facility’ and therefore has ‘no other option but to close them’.