County Limerick burial ground extension is heaven sent

LIMERICK County Council have approved an extension to the existing burial ground at the rear of the church in Caherconlish.

In welcoming the news, Fr Roy Donovan, parish priest, paid tribute to everyone involved in getting the project to this stage. The 0.166 hectares of additional ground will result in approximately 250 more graves.

The county council report stated: “The proposed improvements will provide an increase in the availability of burial plots to serve Caherconlish village and the surrounding area.”

Fr Donovan said it was “superb news” and paid tribute to everyone who was involved in the extension plans over the years.

“Myself and Fr Currivan are delighted. He would have worked long and hard on this.

“There was only a handful of graves left and they were emergency graves more than anything else.

“A number of people over the last year or more wanted to book graves for the future. That has been putting the pressure on to find a solution and we are delighted this has come to pass,” said Fr Donovan.

“I’m very thankful to Cllr Eddie Wade in particular. He did a lot of work for us.

“A number of interested locals have been meeting on and off for a number of years looking at this, pushing it and trying to get something done,” added the parish priest.

Fr Donovan thanked the church sacristan and land owner, Pa O’Connell, for helping to facilitate the extension.

When the item came before a full county council meeting, Cllr John Egan proposed the extension to the existing burial ground.

“There is an awful shortage of graveyard spaces over the last few years. It is going to have 250 or so extra graves and will allow people in the Caherconlish area to purchase a plot,” said Cllr Egan.

Cllr Eddie Wade said “people want to be buried in the parish they are from”.

“I want to pay tribute to the staff who worked with me. I want to thank the landowner for their common sense approach,” said Cllr Wade.

Cllr Brigid Teefy said it was very good news for Caherconlish and added that it was great comfort for people to be able to buy a plot.

The county council report said the extension is in accordance with the Caherconlish Local Areal Plan 2012 to 2018.

The land will be in the control of the county council, and Fr Donovan hopes it will be available to be used as burial ground in the coming months..