Ending of Sunday burials is slammed

Date Published: 28-Dec-2012

BY DARA BRADLEY

The decision to stop Sunday burials in the city from next week onwards has been described as “illogical”.

City Councillor Ollie Crowe (FF) said the decision by management of Galway City Council to remove the option of holding burials on Sundays was also very short-sighted.

Officials at City Hall made the announcement in the lead-up to Christmas, which Cllr Crowe said was a “cynical and underhanded effort to ensure the decision received little coverage or scrutiny”.

He said Sunday burials had been a long-standing tradition across the city and particularly in the Bohermore and Rahoon cemeteries and the tradition should continue.

“People have been buried on a Sunday for hundreds of years. There was no problem, so why change it now? The failure of city officials to examine alternative solutions and formulate different proposals exhibits their lack of connection with the communities involved.”

Cllr Crowe added the decision was “illogical in every regard, but especially in an economic context, during a period in which we can ill afford such short sightedness”.

Cllr Crowe added that he hoped city manager Joe O’Neill would exhibit some “leadership and common sense and reverse this unreasonable decision.”

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.