Clare Co Council has deleted a requirement in draft burial ground bylaws that graves be dug to a depth of 8ft.
The council made the U-turn after Clare Funeral Directors voiced concerns over the 8ft depth, with one director, John Linnane, claiming the lives of grave-diggers would be endangered by the clause.
The local authority put the draft bylaws out for public consultation earlier this year and following widespread opposition to the 8ft requirement in the submissions received, the council decided to remove the clause.
Funeral director at Ennistymon, Michael Linnane, who is John Linnane’s father, welcomed the U-turn.
He said: “What was proposed was crazy, and you could have had graves caving in on top of grave-diggers.
“In places like Carron in the Burren, there is no way you could dig to a depth of 8ft because of the rock there.”
‘Unattainable’ laws
Chairman of the council ’s cultural, arts and community special policy committee (SPC), Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) said on Thursday: “I think it is important that we listen to the views of the public and don’t start implementing laws that are unattainable and putting communities and individuals under a lot of pressure at critical times in their lives.”
Cllr Hayes added: “I’m glad that there has been a U-turn in a sense, and the council has taken a practical view.”
He said: “I don’t believe that the 8ft requirement was suitable and something that could be implemented. It was sending out a negative message about the bylaws. Hopefully, local solutions in all areas can be attainable in the long term.”
Cllr Hayes pointed out that the 8ft requirement originally dated back to regulations from 1888 which are still in place.
He said: “It is still shocking that we are dealing with an 1888 Act where there is talk about penalties of two English pounds. We need to modernise some of that, but we don’t want to become a police state either.
“We need good practice in our graveyards and regulations providing for good environmental health.”
Cllr Hayes was speaking on Thursday after a council report on the draft bylaws was put before the SPC.
Maximum perpendicular depth
In its submission on the draft bylaws, Clare Funeral Directors proposed the clause relating to the depth of burial be deleted, and that for a first interment at a grave, it be sunk to the maximum perpendicular depth the sub-soil allows.
In response to the various submissions on the 8ft depth, the council responded that the depth of 8ft is stated in the 1888 regulations, so that clause can be deleted in the draft bylaws.
The council stated that discussions had taken place with the HSE regarding a local assessment of a number of burial grounds in order to establish the likely achievable depth of graves.
Senior council official Monica Meehan told the SPC meeting the draft bylaws already contain the provision that lesser depths than 8ft can be agreed with the HSE if the sub-soil doesn’t permit going to that level.
The SPC recommended to the council that it delete the 8ft requirement, and the revised draft bylaws are to go before the council later this month or in September for approval.
