Traveller grave monument must be removed

A HUGE marble monument erected at a Traveller’s grave in Kilmallock must come down, Limerick County Council said yesterday.

The three-metre structure was erected last year at the grave of Timmy O’Reilly, whose family live at a local halting site.

Furious locals have complained to the council that the structure has encroached on their family plots.

It is estimated that the monument, which is made of Italian marble and granite, cost in excess of €60,000.

The matter was again raised by local councillors at an area meeting of the council at Kilmallock courthouse.

A council spokesman said yesterday: “We are handling this as sensitively as possible and are in ongoing communication with the O’Reilly family.

“Those who erected it submitted drawings and planning permission was refused. Despite this, work on erecting it went ahead late at night.

“We contacted the people who had been in communication with us to remove it. Our next step will be to look at various mechanisms to have it removed.

“It is a sensitive matter and we will have to look at options. But we cannot allow it to remain and we will have to be seen to take action and will do so if it is necessary.”

The council has set guidelines on the size and dimensions of headstones that are allowed in cemeteries. The O’Reilly family headstone, which features statues of angels, is in breach of these.

The family was at the centre of another graveyard row in May 2005 when there was a dispute over where Mr O’Reilly’s wife would be buried.

The O’Reilly family wanted Kathleen

McCarthy O’Reilly, 22, buried in Kilmallock, but Ms O’Reilly’s family, the

McCarthy’s, opposed this and the matter ended up in the High Court.

The funeral of the mother of two went ahead at Kilcornan in west Limerick where she was laid to rest alongside her grandparents.

She was waked in Cork by the McCarthy family and in Shanagolden by the O’Reilly family prior to the burial.

Her husband died in September 2006.