Council awaits policy on columbarium walls

Fermoy Municipal District are awaiting policy before developing a columbarium wall, a specialist wall to house cremation urns, or a rose garden, for the burial of cremated ashes, at the new Kilcrumper graveyard.

Both Cllr Deirdre O’Brien and Cllr Noel McCarthy tabled motions on the topic at the most recent meeting of the Fermoy Municipal District.

Responding to the motions, Municipal District Officer, Pauline Moriarty, stated that the MD is currently awaiting policy and standards for columbarium walls, which is currently in development.

“I have asked that Kilcrumper be used as a pilot in the roll out of this policy once adopted by council. I will seek an update and revert to members,” Ms Moriarty added.

‘WE HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE’

Discussions around the installation of such a wall for Fermoy have been ongoing for some time and local councillors in attendance at the online meeting last week impressed the need for progress in line with the rising number of cremations and decreasing available space in graveyards.

“We have to impress, something has to be done at this stage. It’s a no-brainer here. We have to start somewhere and no better place than Kilcrumper,” Cllr O’Brien stated.

Cllr McCarthy called on the council for a decision to be made between a columbarium wall or rose garden stating: “We need to make up our minds”.

Supporting the motion, Cllr Kay Dawson noted that now is the time to send a letter to the Social Inclusion SPC on the matter.

Acknowledging that elected members have been waiting a long time for the policy to be issued, Ms Moriarty noted that the funding element to the proposed development at Kilcrumper also needs to be addressed.