Funeral told burial is postponed over backlog of Covid deaths at cemetery
A BURIAL had to be postponed at one of Dublin’s largest cemeteries this week because of heavy demand at the graveyard due to the worsening pandemic.
The remains of the deceased had to be brought back to the mortuary after the funeral Mass in south Dublin because Deansgrange Cemetery was overbooked.
The small funeral congregation was told of the development by the priest during the Mass.
A worker at the cemetery, which is Dubin’s third largest, acknowledged ‘the unfortunate incident’ which was ‘beyond their control’.
‘We are extremely busy here in the last month, particularly with the number of deaths,’ they said. ‘Every second funeral is a Covid death.
‘On top of that, we’ve had to reduce the number of funerals we have here every day from six to four because of restrictions with social distancing and everything.
‘The funeral director here should have checked that we could take the funeral before booking it.’
The remains of the person were interred the following day.
The funeral home involved did not respond to a request for comment.
Under current Level 5 restrictions, just 10 people are allowed to attend a funeral and burial.
A spokesman for Dún LaoghaireRathdown County Council, which manages the cemetery, said there were guidelines in place for ‘the safety of families… and the safety of cemetery staff, there is a maximum capacity of four to five burials at each site on each day’.
‘This is to avoid a potential overlap of members of the public in the same area and to provide for a dignified and respectful occasion for grieving families,’ they said.
‘For these operational reasons the council cannot commit to facilitating additional funerals after the maximum daily capacity has been reached.
The council has a booking system in place with funeral directors in the area to manage the number of funerals at each location and liaise with them in this regard.’
Liam Whelehan, a funeral director in Co. Laois, who had no involvement in the funeral in question, said he believed pressure on slots for burials was a Dublin phenomenon.
‘It wouldn’t be a countrywide issue,’ Mr Whelehan said.
‘In Laois, there’s been no issue as our population isn’t as big as in Dublin. That’s an issue in Dublin even at the best of times I’d imagine.’
Last year the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed that as a result of Covid safety measures, Mullingar Regional Hospital gave out the body of a deceased patient to the wrong family.
The person had died as a result of Covid-19 but the remains – sealed in a body bag – released to their family for burial, were those of another individual.
The error was noticed by hospital staff just minutes before the funeral service took place and the hearse had to return to the hospital to swap the corpses.
The Ireland East Hospital Group along with Regional Hospital Mullingar apologised for the mistake.
The hospital said an internal review has since taken place and ‘processes and protocols have been reviewed within the hospital and its mortuary to mitigate this extremely rare event from happening again’.
NPHET and other health authorities have singled out large gatherings for funerals as a source of Covid spread throughout the pandemic, and this week there were
‘Every second funeral we do is a Covid death’
‘Gatherings at funerals put us at further risk’
reports that some funerals were being allowed to take place with bodies embalmed and open coffins – which contravenes the regulations. It also comes amid increasing concern over large funerals taking place with little social distancing or mask wearing.
The phenomenon has been reported across both the settled and the Traveller community, and Traveller organisation Pavee Point and other groups issued a statement stressing the need for everyone to adhere to the 10-person limit on funerals and to stick to other public health guidelines.
‘The Covid-19 crisis is particularly hard on Travellers given underlying health conditions and overcrowded living conditions,’ Pavee Point said. ‘Gathering at funerals is a surefire way to make the situation worse and pass on the virus if any one person does happen to have it. This puts the whole Traveller community at further risk.’