A SHAMBLES
Graveyard patrun a mess as thousands of people turn up but ceremony takes place WITHOUT speaker system
LOUTH County Council came under fire this week for deciding to have the annual blessing of the graves at St Patrick’s Dowdallshill cemetery broadcast on local community radio instead of installing a public address system.
Many of those who attended Sunday afternoon’s service complained that the were unable to hear the clergy who officiated at the service, which attracts thousands of people who have family members buried in the Dowdallshill graveyard.
Despite parishioners being notified through the parish bulletin and social media to bring radios so that they could tune into Dundalk FM to hear the service being broadcast live, only a handful of the thousands who made their way to the graveyard brought radios with them.
Cllr Tomas Sharkey said the absence of a public announcement system could have posed a major safety risk.
THE decision not to install a public announcement system for the annual blessings of the graves in St Patrick’s cemetery, Dowdallshill but the service broadcast on a local community radio station was made by Louth County Council.
Many of those who attended Sunday afternoon’s service were bitterly disappointed that they were unable to hear the clergy officiating at the blessing of the graves.
The matter was raised at Monday’s meeting of Louth County Council, with Cllr Maeve Yore saying that when she phoned the parochial house to find out what had gone wrong, she was given ‘an emphatic answer’ that the responsibility lay with the Council.
Director of Service Mr Paddy Donnelly explained that as there had been ‘a significant failure’ in the system last year, he had looked to see how it might be addressed.
He said that with the abolition of the joint burial board responsibility for St Patrick’s Cemetery is vested with Louth County Council. The practice in the past had been to provide amplification for the blessing of the graves, but the cemetery was now significantly larger than it was in the past. Due to the failure which had happened last year and the unavailability of a local provider, he had engaged with the local community radio. He said he had met with the Administrators for the parishes in Dundalk and outlined the proposal beforehand,
He accepted that some people didn’t bring radios with them and a number of speakers which had been set up in the graveyard had failed, but hit out at what he branded ‘fake news’ on social media. It had been an attempt to do something differently and people who were housebound or in hospital had been able to listen to the service.
Cllr Conor Keelan said that ‘a lot of people were unhappy’ about what had happened. Cllr Tomas Sharkey felt that ‘ a bad decision, a wrong decision’ had been taken not to have a PA system and raised concerns about what would have happened if there had been ‘a major incident’ and people needed to be told to move in a particular direction.
‘Within 24 hours I received 921 representations from the public. Only 24 were positive about the public address system this year. It is important that council staff take the public’s opinion on this matter and ensure there is a sound system in place next year.’
He believed the Council was in breach of its own guidelines for public events by not having a PA system in place to ensure public safety.