Council bylaws will ban Sunday funerals
COMPREHENSIVE NEW PROPOSALS DEBATED AT LENGTH AT MEETING
UNDER new bylaws proposed by Wexford County Council, funerals will not be allowed to take place on Sundays.
The bylaws, which were discussed at length at last week’s Wexford County Council meeting, fall under seveal categories, including the layout of burial grounds, burial plots, funerals and headstones.
Under the bylaws no funerals will take place on Sunday except in the case of special arrangements and a limitation will apply on the number of plots that any person can purchase at any one time, the limit being two. ‘ No plot is, under any circumstances, to be registered in the name of more than one person and such person can only be recognised by Wexford County Council as the owner,’ the bylaw states.
Cllr Deirdre Wadding questioned why it costs more to be buried on a bank holiday or a weekend than it does on a weekday. ‘ The impression is that it is the gravediggers themselves who are looking for more money.’
Cllr George Lawlor urged Cllr Wadding to tread carefully, saying there was an implication in her comment that grave diggers were taking money, when they are staff of the local authority.
Director of Services John Carley said extra charges are added to the bill sent to the undertaker if a funeral falls on a weekend or on a bank holiday which are passed on to the person who pays for the funeral. He said bylaws are only bylaws, adding that they have not become established practise in the county yet.
Wexford County Council CEO Tom Enright said the council will be providing grants to communities of around €25,000 to develop their own burial spaces providing they can show there is a need for them.
Cllr Lawlor said: ‘ We are only digging a hole for ourselves. They could have chartiable status.’
Cllr Kathleen Codd Nolan spoke of the great tradition in the county of people burying their neighbours.
Cllr Robbie Ireton welcomed funding of around €400 for historical graveyards that are in need of repair.
‘It’s a small amount of money but with a lot of volunteers you can get a lot done.’
Cllr Willie Kavanagh queried why it costs more to bury someone in Oylegate than it does in Crosstown. ‘Oylegate is the D4 of the county,’ Cllr Lawlor shot back.
‘ You could have your own graveyard with €25,000,’ Cllr Ireton said.
Cllr Barbara Anne Murphy welcomed the clarification the bylaws will bring, while Chairman Paddy Kavanagh said they may prevent people from erecting monuments at graveyards in Enniscorthy.
Mr Carley said grave diggers are permanent employees of Wexford County Council and would not be affected in any way if funerals were banned on Sundays.
Cllr Deirdre Wadding said it gives people great comfort if they can buy their plot. Mr Carley said only in exceptional medical circumstances can there be leeway.
Cllr Larry O’Brien agreed, saying: ‘People in towns do things one way and people in the country do things another way. I can name numerous people who have bought burial plots and put a few pound aside towards them. A plot should be able to be bought and paid for over a period of time.’
Cllr Lisa McDonald said she makes wills for a living, adding that many people would prefer to be cremated than buried in a plot due to a fear of being put in the ground. She said a crematorium is needed in the county, adding that Wexford County Council should have a policy on this.
Cllr Ireton called on the council to remove the word pauper from the graveyward in Crosstown. ‘ You can call it a Famine graveyard, but these are people,’ he said.
Cllr Wadding said the council could work with Waterford and Kilkenny for a crematorium for the south east.
Cllr Kavanagh replied: ‘ We could call it the Three Sisters Crematorium,’ to loud laughter.
The bylaws can be inspected at local authority offices until March 24.