Family may have to exhume body over council rules

The family of a man buried in a lawn cemetery near Dingle, Co Kerry, say they will be forced to exhume his body and rebury him in Dublin — because the county council in Kerry is insisting his headstone has to be placed at his feet.

The 59-year-old father of eight, Brendan Moriarty, who lived for most of his life in Artane, in Dublin, was a native of Lispole, and had intended retiring to his native Lispole in west Kerry.

The late ESB worker was in Lispole for the weekend working on a retirement home he was building for himself and his wife Joan in February 2013 when he died suddenly.

He is buried in Minard graveyard which overlooks the sea. However, the newer lawn type cemeteries in Kerry, under council by- laws, have pre-set plinths on both sides of pathways which means some rows of memorial stones are at the feet and others at the head.

The arrangement is to facilitate easy lawn cutting and maintenance and was put in place some years ago.

Yesterday, Peter Bradley, executive engineer in charge of the county’s 150 burial grounds said the council had not misled the Moriartys when they bought the plot in Minard.

A number of burials were already in line, with the plinth in place at the feet, in the row bought by the family.

“They could have gone for a different plot, if they insisted,” Mr Bradley said.

He also says the family would have received information about the arrangements when they bought the plot in Minard.

The orientation of the burials themselves has the head to the west, in line with Christian practice.

However, family spokeswoman Theresa Rafter- Moriarty, the sister–in-law of the late Brendan Moriarty yesterday said that the family are “devastated” at the prospect of disturbing his grave and are very upset by the rigid council rules.

She said they were not aware of the arrangement for headstones and did not get information to that effect.

They were also upset at the prospect of putting his memorial stone at his feet.

“A headstone is a headstone, not a footstone,” she said.

The family are now waiting for a meeting with the council but were serious about exhuming the body.

Her own husband, John, aged 62 died six months after his brother Brendan and is buried near him in the same cemetery — but his grave is in a row where the headstones are at the head.

This is very upsetting for Brendan’s family in Dublin. They are devastated. I am too, I would hate to see Brendan uprooted,” Ms Rafter-Moriarty said.

The family would have to apply to both the council and the HSE to have the remains exhumed, a spokesman for the council said.

The matter was raised by councillors at yesterday’s meeting of the South and West Kerry area in Killorglin.