Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Mother of terminally-ill child in new house plea
A MUM is pleading with Housing Executive officials to find an accessible home for her terminally-ill child following a “hopeless” four-year wait.
Fiona Fitzsimons, 24, said she cannot even provide her five-year-old life-limited daughter Caoilte with a bedroom.
The North Belfast mum revealed the little girl has been forced to sleep in a living room without bathing facilities since she was diagnosed with type 1 spinal muscular atrophy as a newborn.
Fiona added a bungalow with a “bedroom and dignity for Caoilte” and bedrooms for her and a 24-hour carer would “be like gold”.
North Belfast MLA Nichola Mallon said it was disgraceful “no resolution was in sight”.
The SDLP representative added: “What kind of a society are we that in 2018 a disabled child with a life-limiting condition is forced to travel to the Children’s Hospice to get a bath and is suffering head sores because she can’t get washed properly in her home?”
A Housing Executive spokesman said they were “deeply sympathetic” to the family.
He added: “Unfortunately there are no available converted properties in their areas of choice.” THOUSANDS of headstones in a cemetery have been deemed dangerous – with many more expected to follow.
The discovery of more than 3,000 unsafe memorials at Roselawn was made during inspections carried out as part of a major health and safety overhaul of Belfast’s main municipal cemetery.
The city council confirmed a third of 10,000 headstones examined in the Castlereagh graveyard in the first stage of the process were considered “unstable or unsafe”.
The memorials have been taped to warn passers-by of potential danger and owners face bills of between £100 and £175 to have them secured.
At least 20,000 more graves have yet to be inspected, while similar checks are to begin this month at City Cemetery, Dundonald, Friar’s Bush Graveyard, Glenalina, Knock Burial Ground and Knockbreda. Inspectors will work through each of the sites “section by section”.
Belfast City Council’s Crematorium and Cemetery Working Group was set up two years ago to tackle mounting pressures on graveyards.
Its chairman Jim Rodgers revealed the health and safety checks were sparked by the tragic death of a child who was killed by a falling headstone in Glasgow.
Mr Rodgers said memorials that showed any signs of movement in Roselawn Cemetery had been “taped off ”.
He added so many were unstable because the headstones had not been fixed with screws.
Mr Rodgers said: “Health and safety is of paramount importance but it is a very sensitive issue and we want to work with those whose graves are affected.
“This is an ongoing issue but the last thing we want is someone losing their life or getting injured.” Mr Rodgers accepted the tape and wooden posts securing the headstones was “unsightly” but said issues arose as many who own the graves are also deceased.
He added some particularly unsteady headstones had been removed and laid on graves.
A Belfast woman who visited Roselawn at the weekend said they had been asked to repair a family grave which they had believed to be steady until it was “put to the test” by inspectors.
The woman added: “The headstone had been in place for decades without any problem and we believe it only became unsteady when it was tested by machinery. It cost us £150 to have it repaired, but even now almost a year later the wooden stakes put in by graveyard staff have not been removed.
“The blue tape on so many graves is an eyesore. It all needs sorted.”
In an online statement, Belfast City Council said: “We’ve been carrying out a memorial safety inspection programme at our cemeteries since August 2016.
“We understand bereavement and memorials for loved ones are sensitive issues and we do not wish to cause any further upset for families and friends.
“However, the aim of this programme is to ensure our cemeteries are safe places for all those who work in and visit them.”