Catholic Church apologises over sale of cemetery

The Catholic Church in the North has apologised for selling land to a wildlife trust where hundreds of dead babies were buried.

The trust and the church are in negotiations to restore the land to a local cemetery and build a monument on it.

When it emerged the Catholic Church had leased the land, adjacent to Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast, to the Ulster Wildlife Trust, which owns the nearby bird sanctuary, there was outrage.

Bereaved families picketed the cemetery and handed out leaflets protesting that the land where the babies had been buried had been sold.

The church, realising its error, has now apologised on behalf of the Trustees of the Cemetery saying it had acted in good faith.

The Ulster Wildlife Trust is also concerned and is hoping to return it to the church as soon as possible.

There are now plans to erect "an appropriate monument" to the memory of those buried there.