We're running out of space to bury our dead says councillor

We're running out of space to bury our dead.

That was the message to officials at Monday's meeting of Donegal County Council in Lifford.

Concerns were raised by Letterkenny councillor Jimmy Kavanagh during a debate on their annual Service Delivery Plan.

It informs councillors and the public about the principal services to be delivered this year and has to be adopted by the council.

Cllr Kavanagh said he noted in the plan that there was a commitment to the maintenance of burial grounds but he was concerned that the problem was bigger than the council realised.

"What is the position on providing burial grounds as things are fast reaching a crisis point for the main churches not to mention the new people we have in the county? Some of them have to go to Derry or Dublin to be buried and many of them have spent up to 30 to 40 years working in the county."

He asked if there was an active body within the council looking after this.

"It seems to have gone off the radar completely and it would be a shame if we left this until we reach an absolute crisis. That is approaching. We have been warned about this but we don't seem to be making progress. I appreciate it's not everywhere you can get suitable sites but it's important we keep it to the fore and keep searching for suitable sites because this is not going to go away," he said.

Independent Killybegs councillor Niamh Kennedy agreed saying it was time something was done about this problem.

"We have had a number of motions about this put through the council over the past ten years about this. It's particularly important now that we have so many people coming into the county from elsewhere," she said.

Director of economic development, emergency services and information systems, Garry Martin suggested the matter be brought back to the respective Strategic Policy Committees (SPC) where the matter could be most appropriately dealt with.

Director of Water and Environment, Michael McGarvey added work had been done to examine capacity issues and who delivers the service in terms of burial grounds, particularly during the early stages of Covid. He said he would share that information on what they had and what changes including provisions for non-denomination graveyards were needed with councillors at SPC level.