Crematorium to keep mourning closer to home

There are around 1,000 hearses leaving the West of Ireland every year with the bodies of deceased persons being brought for cremation in Dublin.

And that has prompted a County Galway business person to establish a crematorium in Ballinasloe, work on which will start around the middle of the year.

And it has been claimed by the owner that the funeral costs that are imposed on families could be slashed by more than 35% as a result of his new development.

It is estimated that eight people a week will be cremated at the new crematorium which will be established on a greenfield site in Garbally Demesne.

The developer Kevin Tuohy from Loughrea said that he hoped to begin the project around the middle of the year and it would be up and running by 2016 at the latest.

Mr. Tuohy said that he conducted a survey of 135 funeral directors in the West of Ireland and discovered that around 1,000 bodies were sent from the region for cremation in Dublin.

It is part of a €3.5 million investment in the town of Ballinasloe as well as creating a number of jobs. It will also take pressure off some rural graveyards which are struggling with space at the moment.

There was opposition to the development on the grounds that it would devalue property in the vicinity.

There was even a submission which suggested that the poor oral health in the elderly population would result in toxic omissions.

Those opposed to the development said that dangerous emissions from a crematorium could have a serious impact on local residents of Ballinasloe. Neighbouring residents tried to stop the development from going ahead.

Kevin Tuohy told the Connacht Tribune that the crematorium would be up and running next spring by the latest.

He had already received inquiries from undertakers from Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway and Clare about the facilities that he will be providing.

The new crematorium will be constructed at Garbally Demesne and will be the first of its kind in the West of Ireland. It will represent a significant investment in the town.

The old Ballinasloe Town Council granted permission to Kevin Tuohy of BKT Construction, Conicare, Clostoken for a single-storey crematorium on a greenfield site close to the N6 on the Galway side of the town.

The Ballinasloe facility comprises a reflection room, ceremony room, cremator and other ancillary rooms and services as well as a memorial garden and is subject to 14 conditions being complied with.