Ten-mile family ties rule proposed for burials at Cashel cemetery
The proposed amendment of Tipperary County Council’s Burial Grounds Bye-Laws is going out to public consultation
Tipperary County Council is to seek the public's views on a proposed bye-law change to permit only people with existing family ties within 10 miles of Cashel's St Cormac's Cemetery to be buried in the graveyard.
This proposed amendment to Tipperary County Council’s Burial Grounds Bye-Laws along with a second proposed bye-law change relating to headstones were outlined to councillors at their June meeting ahead of the start of a month-long public consultation process.
Pressure on space at St Cormac's Cemetery is the reason why the Council is proposing this change to its bye-laws that apply to local authority run graveyards.
It's being put forward in response to a motion calling for only people with family ties within a 20-mile radius of the graveyard to be buried at the cemetery that was passed at a Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District meeting in January last year. The motion was forwarded to the Council's Environment & Climate Action Strategic Policy Committee for consideration.
Its proposer Cashel Cllr Liam Browne thanked the SPC for its work on the family ties amendment, which he was delighted to see coming before the council meeting.
He said over the years people with no family ties in Cashel were buried in St Cormac's Cemetery, which led to it filling up too quickly while there isn't an alternative graveyard in place.
The proposed amendment stipulates that family ties must be existing and the deceased's family member must be a close relative, namely a spouse/partner, parent, child or sibling whose principal place of residence is within 10 miles of St Cormac's.
The Council says it reserves the right to deviate from this restriction if “extenuating circumstances” are present. The local authority added the transfer of a right of burial at the cemetery to another person will not be permitted.
The amendment adds that these arrangements will lapse when a new cemetery for Cashel is opened.
The Council agreed to Cllr Browne's request to amend the wording of the proposal from “deceased had existing family ties” to “deceased has existing family ties” before it went out on public display.
The second Burial Grounds Bye-Law amendment going out to public consultation essentially proposes favourable consideration will be given to permits for headstones or Celtic crosses that replicate the existing bye-law compliant headstones in a burial plot.
It is being put forward on foot of Cllr Kay Cahill-Skehan's motion passed at a meeting of Thurles Municipal District last July requesting that in certain places, such as the older parts of cemeteries, headstones match the size of existing headstones to promote visual consistency.
Environment & Climate Action SPC Chairman Cllr Sean Ryan said the committee's members put a lot of work into drawing up the bye-law amendments and the two councillors who tabled the motions are very happy with them.
Cllr Willie Kennedy, however, said a lot of people were wondering about these burial ground rules and criticised the erection of headstones by certain people, which cost huge sums that don't comply with the bye-laws. He asked why they weren't obliged to abide by the bye-laws.
Cllr David Dunne asked who were “these people” he was referring to and Cllr Kennedy replied: “I would assume they are members of the Travelling community”.
Senior Environment Section Engineer Denis Holland responded that it can be difficult to enforce the rules in local authority burial grounds. “We are conscious of it and do try our best to ensure all the rules set down in the bye-law are complied with,” he added.