Mum’s anger at cemetery’s closed toilets

Disabled child denied access

THE mother of a disabled child was left “gobsmacked” after learning the toilet facilities at Miltown Cemetery were closed because of Covid.

Teresa Pollock took seven-year-old Faith to her grandmother’s graveside on Thursday to mark what would have been her 60th birthday.

Faith was born with a missing chromosome, meaning she needs round the clock care, and uses a wheelchair.

On what was a difficult day anyway, Teresa, from Beechmount, West Belfast, said it became worse when her

SO CLOSE daughter needed to use the bathroom. She told the Mirror: “I took my daughter to the cemetery to visit my mum on her birthday and when I was leaving, I stood for 20 minutes to access the toilet for myself and Faith.

“An elderly woman could see how distressed Faith was because she needed the bathroom urgently. She was getting herself into an awful state because we were waiting. She was in a bad way.

When I was finally seen to, to ask for the key to the toilet, I was told because of Covid-19, they were closed as the facilities would need to be cleaned often

“I was speechless when I walked away. I was gobsmacked, I thought because of the state Faith was in, that we would be able to get her to the bathroom. That I couldn’t get my disabled child access to a toilet, I found it an utter disgrace. Faith had an accident. When we got home, I had to then wash her. It was awful.”

A spokesman for the Diocese of Down and Connor said toilets at Milltown have been closed since the start of the pandemic.

He added: “The difficulty is having the staff to sanitise the facilities.

“Staff are not there to sanitise after each use and that is the reason why they remained closed.

“The trustees of Milltown deeply regret and apologise for the inconvenience.”

I was told because of Covid, the toilets were shut TERESA POLLOCK BELFAST YESTERDAY