Columbarium walls and lawn cemetery changes approved

By Rebekah O'Reilly

Offaly County Council has given its approval for significant changes to cemeteries in the county, including permitting the installation of columbarium walls and approving the redesignation of part of Kilcoursey Cemetery in Clara to become a lawn cemetery.

Columbarium walls are erected to hold the cremated remains of loved ones, while a lawn cemetery is a landscaped and grass-covered burial site designed for easy maintenance.

An amendment to Bye-Law 3 of Offaly County Council's cemetery bye-laws clarifies that the exclusive right of burial now also applies to columbarium wall niches.

Changes to Bye-Law 9 state that cremated remains may be placed in urns or small caskets in traditional graves, designated cremation plots, or in columbarium walls where available.

The council may also set aside specific areas for the inurnment of ashes, either in approved urns within columbarium niches or in designated grave spaces.

The new rules require that full details of the deceased be recorded in the Burial Ground Register and that ashes are kept in council-approved urns. It's stipulated that only Council staff may open or close niches, and any plaques or inscriptions must receive prior approval.

Kilcoursey Cemetery in Clara, which was nearing capacity in 2020, underwent emergency works to provide burial spaces in an area planned for a permanent extension. The first two stages of this extension were completed in 2022, designed primarily as lawn cemetery plots.

During the transition from 2020 to 2022, plots in stage 1 were sold as monumental plots, rather than lawn cemetery plots, a meeting of the county council heard.

At the time, the new area had not been officially designated as a lawn cemetery, meaning council could not refuse permission for the erection of headstones and surrounds.

The meeting was told that rows A1 and B1 were designated as monumental plots, while rows C1 to F1 were set aside as lawn cemetery plots. Future stages - 3 to 7 - will be lawn cemetery only.

Councillor Fergus McDonnell raised concerns about the emotional impact on families, noting that flowers would be removed after ten days and that personal monuments would be restricted.

"We're fundamentally changing our cemeteries," he said, warning that families may react strongly.

"There will be pandemonium. We're gone very Americanised. Give it time and we'll have breastplate on the ground [instead of a headstone]."

Councillor Ollie Bryant supported the change, however, citing maintenance and health-and-safety benefits, particularly for an aging population, calling lawn cemeteries "a no-brainer".

Council members voted in favor of the redesignation, formalising the transition to a lawn cemetery at Kilcoursey.