Lack of plots forces loved ones to be buried in next parish
The cemetery situation in County Galway is so grave that families have to go to neighbouring parishes to bury their loved ones.
And in many cases land owners adjoining existing graveyards are looking for ‘top dollar’ before they will sell to the County Council.
Galway County Council do not have the financial resources available to them to pay some of the prices being demanded for extensions to existing graveyards.
It has emerged that some of the prices being demanded by land owners adjacent to existing graveyards in County Galway far exceed agricultural prices.
While the Department of the Environment are being asked to provide more money to acquire additional lands for cemeteries, in many cases the demands by local farmers cannot be acceded to.
Cllr. Mary Hoade, a general election candidate in Galway West, said that the shortage of burial grounds across the county was a huge source of concern and it was causing a lot of anxiety for families.
“Here in Annaghdown there are currently no available plots in the cemetery and parishes right across the county are experiencing a scarcity of plots, especially in Connemara.
“This is a very sensitive issue for families who are unable to bury their loved ones in the same cemetery as their relatives.
“In some instances families are having to travel outside of their own parishes to have their loved ones buried. This is not an acceptable situation.
“It is an additional stress to be putting on families at a time when they are already emotionally vulnerable," Cllr. Hoade of Fianna Fail added.
Even worse is that Councillor James Charity, another general election candidate, has received written confirmation that the Minister will not meet with the Annaghdown Cemetery Committee to discuss the issue.
“It then came as a great surprise to me that local and national politicians from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were publically confirming just last week that they had arranged a meeting with the Minister.
“In fact, some were practically tripping over themselves to get this message out. However, it has now transpired that the committee have been informed that the Minister will not be attending any meeting.
“No alternative arrangements to meet the Minister were offered, save that the committee were still free to attend and meet departmental officials in the absence of any Government ministerial representation.
“This is not good enough and very shabby treatment of a local community in circumstances where I was well aware weeks ago that the Minister had no intention of meeting the local community.
“Politics is being played here with the community of Annaghdown on an issue of vital importance and it is simply not good enough," Cllr. Charity added.