CAMPAIGNERS have raised fears after Ireland’s Department of Education announced that schools will be able to choose gender-neutral toilets under new guidelines.

Newly updated official school design guides show that toilet facilities under new construction and refurbishment will include cubicles and communal access to washbasins.

A Department of Education spokesman said that it would be for individual schools to choose whether such facilities will be unisex or categorised as male or female.

The plans have met a mixed response. Limerick head teacher Eoin Shinners said that his new Educate Together school’s toilets, due to be completed by 2023, would be gender-neutral, a decision taken in consultation with parents and the management board.

“It’s reflective of how society is nowadays and we’re very welcoming of it. There is a mind shift involved for many people,” he said. 

“We see it as an inclusive measure. Students will still have a choice to use other standalone toilets if they feel in any way uncomfortable.”

But others have condemned the decision, saying that it will leave girls feeling unsafe and vulnerable.