Human remains lie exposed in cemetery
Credit: Photo by Michelle Cooper Galvin
Cllr Michael O'Shea in Kilcolman Abbey, Milltown, where human remians are exposed in open tombs.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 HUMAN remains are lying exposed in many of the county's cemeteries because graves and tombs are being left in a state of disrepair.
The deterioration of old tombs, particularly in Kerry's older graveyards, has resulted in human remains being left completely exposed to the public and vulnerable to animals and birds.
The situation came to a head this week when Milltown councillor, Michael O'Shea, highlighted what he called the appalling situation at the Abbey Cemetery in the village, where human remains are lying openly visible in unmaintained old tombs.
He told The Kerryman that the seals on a number of tombs in the mid-Kerry burial ground have become worn and disintegrated and that human remains are lying in full view.
"This is a very old graveyard down by the old Abbey Church in Milltown that is now only used by locals maybe once a year, but the sealing on a lot of the tombs there has disintegrated and skulls and body parts are visible to anyone visiting the graveyard," he said.
Cllr O'Shea said that while the families of many of those buried at the cemetery are now also long gone, the graveyard is extremely popular with tourists and passers by and the current situation is unacceptable.
At a meeting of An Daingean Electoral Area Committee members on Wednesday last, Cllr O'Shea insisted that Kerry County Council immediately address the situation.
"The condition of the graves is now appalling with tombs wide open and actual remains visible and scattered in the cemetery," he said. "I am requesting urgent action on this matter as it is sending out a dreadful message to the residents, and to tourists visiting, of the lack of respect held by Kerry County Council for those gone before us."
Cllr O'Shea said that the problem is not confined to his native village, but is happening all over Kerry.
Official red tape, he says, is preventing immediate repair work from being carried out in many areas and has called on the OPW, which is responsible for the majority of the county's cemeteries, to relax its guidelines governing the repair of such sites.
As it stands, any works to be undertaken on burial grounds that are classed as protected archaeological sites need advance approval from the county archaeologist and must be then undertaken with archaeological supervision. This accounts for 92 of Kerry's 140 burial grounds.
"In Milltown, for example, we have a very active graveyard committee who, unfortunately, cannot touch these tombs," he said. "I would ask that the OPW give more power to the local authority to carry out these repair works as the problem is happening wholesale."
Kerry County Council, meanwhile, confirmed that the Abbey Graveyard in Milltown will be inspected and that repair works will be carried out under the close supervision of the county archaeologist.
- MARISA REIDY mreidy@kerryman.ie
