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Gardai tell mourners: Drive, don’t
walk
16.09.08
By Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
AN instruction from the
Garda Traffic Corps that mourners attending funerals
at Burt Chapel can no longer walk from St Aengus’
Church to the local graveyard has caused anger and
resentment among parishioners in the area.
After attending Requiem Mass at Burt, mourners
regularly walk behind the hearse to the local
graveyard less than a mile away along the N13, a
national primary route. This has on occasion caused
tailbacks towards Bridgend for traffic coming from
Derry, while traffic coming from Letterkenny flows
as normal.
Parish records suggest there are approximately a
dozen funerals a year at Burt, and locals were at
pains to point out that mourners to not walk to the
graveyard after every single funeral.
A letter from the Garda Traffic Corps read out at
Masses in Burt at the weekend said that health and
safety considerations were behind the decision to
stop the practice, but locals rejected the
reasoning. |
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“This ruling is a
disgrace,” said local woman Catherine Campbell. “The
graveyard was opened in Burt 63 years ago and people
have always walked to it. There has never been an
accident of any sort. If people want to walk with
their dead they should be allowed to do so. What’s
next? Are they going to ban people from |
walking from the
Oratory in Buncrana to Cockhill Cemetery?”
“I was dismayed and saddened at the latest rule to
be imposed on our community,” said Kathleen Grant, a
local resident. “The Irish way of life is slowly
being eroded by bureaucracy. It’s a sad day when we
are not given the time to bury our dead.”
Pointing out that there is very limited parking at
the graveyard, Grant also suggested that forcing
mourners to drive rather than walk from the chapel
was more dangerous to the public safety. “Cars will
be pulling off haphazardly from the Chapel and
there’s no parking for them at the graveyard.”
Local curate Fr Michael Porter was on holiday
yesterday and unavailable for comment. Parish priest
Fr Neil McGoldrick did not wish to comment on the
affair, saying it was a matter for the Gardai.
The first funeral to take place since the new
restrictions were put in place, that of Isobel
Taylor of Carnamaddy, Burt, took place yesterday
morning. No one walked in the cortege from the
Chapel to the graveyard as mourners observed the new
restrictions.
“It’s terrible,” said Carmel McDermott, a local
woman and friend of the deceased. “Isobel never had
a car in her life, but neither her family nor her
neighbours got the chance to walk with her on her
final journey.” |
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