Outdated byelaws causing cemetery chaos as visitors forced to walk over burial sites for access.
SOME graves at a West Cork cemetery can only be visited by walking over someone else’s final resting place, it has emerged.
The worrying situation in Glandore was raised at Monday’s meeting of Cork County Council’s Western Committee.
County Mayor Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) and others called for an overhaul of cemetery bye-laws to provide dignity for the dead, access for the living, and safety for ground staff.
Cllr Carroll said the current regulations had impacted the layout of Kilfachtnabeg burial ground in Glandore.
Most headstones at the cemetery face east, meaning headstones on the path side of every second row render the grave inaccessible for families, and for grave reopening by mechanical means.
‘The solution,’ according to Cllr John Michael Foley, ‘is clear.’ He said ‘headstones should be erected back to back’ which would give them greater structural integrity.
He added that modern burial practices – including national safety guidelines – strongly encourage the use of mechanical diggers for reopening graves
Without back-to-back headstones, he said mechanical digger access is impossible, leaving people no option but to resort to outdated, hazardous manual digging.
Cllr Foley pointed out that graves with headstones on the path side force families to walk across adjoining graves—an undignified and unsafe necessity, particularly for elderly visitors.
‘There have already been serious falls in local cemeteries due to this issue,’ he added, ‘while headstones bordering narrow paths are hazards in themselves, especially if they become unstable over time.’
Cllr Foley (FG), a farmer, undertaker and supplier of headstones, declined to recuse himself from discussing the issue saying he had nothing to gain from joining the discussion.
He made the point that councillors who are publicans discuss the licensing laws; councillors who are restaurateurs discuss the need for a return to the 9% VAT; and councillors who are farmers discuss agrarian matters.
He said the regulation causing the greatest difficulty is that ‘all new gravestones be of the same orientation as existing gravestones in the cemetery’.
All of the councillors who supported the mayor’s motion agreed on the need to show more respect for the deceased, as well as the families of the deceased.
Senior executive officer, Noreen O’Mahony said the local authority will consider the mayor’s motion as part of a review. She also pointed out that additional land has been acquired to increase the number of burial plots available in that village.
