Councils consider memorial walls for cremation urns

Two of the country’s largest local authorities are to explore the option of developing Columbarium memorial walls to accommodate cremation urns and caskets in light of a shortage of grave plots.

Dublin City Council, which now has no plots of its own for sale at any of its cemeteries, said it intends to explore the option of Columbarium walls, while Cork City Council said it plans to provide the memorial spaces in cemeteries for the storage of ashes.

Just last week, the Vatican issued an instruction regarding ashes, stating that it wished them to be kept together and not scattered, and for them to be interred in consecrated areas.

While the instruction prompted some criticism, funeral directors here said it would give comfort to some older people, as it clarified that the Roman Catholic Church was not opposed to cremation, while other people who had already intended to scatter ashes were unlikely to be swayed by the Church’s view.

Grave plots can still be purchased in Dublin, but there are no council-owned spaces available.

A spokesman for Dublin City Council said: “There are no plots for sale in any of our cemeteries (Bluebell, Clontarf, St Canice’s), we only maintain them and administer exhumation licences and additional internments in existing plots.”

There has not been any fresh planning application in the Dublin City Council area for graveyards, but the local authority said it was looking at ways of accommodating the growing number of families who now opt for cremation, rather than burial, for their loved ones.

The Irish Association of Funeral Directors estimates that up to 50% of people who die in Dublin are now cremated.

The council spokesman said since there were no plots available, the option of selling smaller plots to accommodate urns or caskets was moot.

But he added: “At some stage in the future we intend examining whether Columbarium walls might be feasible, but it is not part of our immediate plans.”

Cork City Council has four cemeteries: St Finbarr’s in Glasheen; St Catherine’s in Kilcully; St Joseph’s in Ballyphehane; and St Michael’s in Mahon.

The local authority confirmed there are plots available for immediate burial in both St Michael’s and at St Catherine’s, with capacity for many years to come.

“We have lands purchased to facilitate an extension to St Catherine’s and we will be proceeding with same in the next few years,” a spokesman for the local authority said.

“We do plan to provide columbariums in the cemeteries in the medium term that would accommodate the storage of ashes.

“At present, some of those with burial plots in our existing cemeteries also accommodate ashes.”