Limerick councillor calls for wall as cremations are no longer niche
THERE are no plans for a columbarium wall, which has niches for the ashes of loved ones to be interred, in the Cappamore-Kilmallock Municipal District.
Cllr Brigid Teefy asked if there are any plans for a columbarium wall or ash plots in the district due to the rise in cremations and lack of grave spaces.
Cllr Teefy said constituents had raised the matter with her and she has seen the columbarium wall in Shannon Crematorium. It consists of 462 niches for ashes to be interred.
“It is going to be the future. Graves are getting scarcer and to get the land even is very difficult,” said Cllr Teefy.
In reply to her question, a council spokesperson said they have no plans to develop columbarium walls within cemeteries in the municipal district.
“However, the council are developing cremation plots in the new cemeteries that are currently being developed.
“There are 34 cremation plots being provided as part of the newly developed ground extension in Ballylanders, each capable of accommodating multiple cremated remains and where feasible, within existing burial grounds in order to facilitate the growing demand for the interment of ashes,”said a council spokesperson.
Cllr Teefy welcomed the provision in Ballylanders and hoped that columbarium walls will be considered in the future when there are extensions of cemeteries or new graveyards planned.
Seven per cent of all burials in the Cappmaore-Kilmallock district are cremations, say the council.