Toilets in graveyards

A motion by Independent Drogheda councillor Frank Godfrey calling on Louth County Council to provide pulbic toilets for mourners in graveyards throughout the county, failed to win the support of fellow councillors at last week’s monthly meeting.

He argued that such a facility was badly needed as often there are hundreds of mourners in graveyards. He suggested that the keys to the toilets could be given to funeral directors to look after.

Alternatively, the council could hire port-a-loos on a long term basis and put them in place when the blessing of the graves is being held.

‘I cannot support this,’ Cllr Anne Campbell declared, saying that Louth County Council was already spending € 265,000 on the public toilets it already has. ‘It’s outrageous,’ she said.

‘If people want toilets at graveyards, then the undertakers can pay for them as they are private companies which benefit from graveyards. No one else makes money from graveyards.’

She added that most churches have loos which people could use before they go to the graveyard.

Cllr Conor Keelan pointed out that Dundalk graveyard has toilets which were provided by the now defunct burial board. In reply to a question from Cllr Campbell, he said that Louth County Council now has responsiblity for the upkeep and maintenance of the cemetery and toilets.

Chairman Cllr Colm Markey said he agreed with Cllr Campbell that the Council couldn’t afford to take on the cost of providing toilets in all the graveyards in the county. ‘It’s not realistic to go down that road,’ he said, pointing out that there were public toilets in the two main graveyards in the county,

Cllr Godfrey’s motion was defeated by eight votes to four.