Louth councillor wants ownership of Faughart Graveyard decided

Cllr John Reilly tabled a motion at the Dundalk Municipal District February meeting, calling for the ownership and maintenance of Faughart Graveyard be taken over by the Office of Public Works (OPW) as a Heritage Site.

The February meeting was held at Faughart Community National School to mark the 1500th anniversary of the death of St Brigid. Cllr Reilly said "now that the euphoria of the Brigid 1500 celebrations is starting to die down, the reality is that we have a rich heritage site which we believe is close to the birthplace of St Brigid [and which] is in legal limbo currently."

Cllr Reilly says that there is an anomaly in relation to the ownership of the graveyard as it is not clear if it is a Catholic or Church of Ireland graveyard, but added that it is believed that it changed hands verbally to the Catholic church in the 1800s. He further added that he has met both the Catholic Archbishop and the Church of Ireland Archbishop on the matter.

The Fine Gael councillor said that "Faughart Graveyard is a very ecumenical burial site. It is believed that the site holds the first Anglican church in the area. It dates back to the 5th century. Not only on a religious aspect but on a historical note it is the burial ground of Edward de Bruce killed in battle in 1318."

"On entering politics three years ago, one of my top priorities was the cleaning up and maintenance of the graveyard, out of respect to those who have died there, including my great-grandparents who are buried here."

At the February meeting, it was agreed that Cllr Reilly's motion be changed to call on either Louth County Council or the OPW to take ownership of Faughart Graveyard.

Speaking to the Dundalk Democrat following the meeting, Cllr Reilly said that, "going forward, we have a heritage site outside Dundalk, and it needs to have a proper guardian, especially after the festival we had. We also have St Brigid's Well, the Gap of the North, we've also got the whole connection with Edward de Bruce. We have to build on Brigid 1500, we have to build on tourism."

He added that work has been done to tidy up the graveyard, through community effort and with the help of a TUS work placement, and that it is now in a much better state than it was in three years ago.

The Dundalk-Carlingford councillor added that "if I have only one legacy from my three years as a Louth County Councillor, I want it to be for the cleaning up Faughart Graveyard."