Councillor calls for signage in city cemeteries to be enhanced 

CORK city councillor and local historian Kieran McCarthy has called on the council to enhance their signage in city cemeteries to help locate burial plots.

The Independent councillor put forward a motion in which he stated that although many of the city's cemeteries are well maintained, in some of the older cemeteries it is difficult to locate faded inscribed numerical markers.

In addition, Mr McCarthy asked that there would be an "increased effort by the city council to put burial records online so they can be located, either on their own website or on Cork City and County Archives website and especially through the use of volunteers".

In response, Cork City Council said a review of parks and cemeteries signage is presently underway and that new signage will be erected during 2022 as resources allow. 

"Signage at cemeteries will include plans to assist visitors locate burial plots. 

"Cork City and County Archives have been uploading cemetery burial records for the past number of years and these are available on their website.

"Uploading the records is labour intensive and it will take several years before all records are uploaded," the council's response continued.

Speaking at Tuesday night's full council meeting, Mr McCarthy welcomed the response but said in relation to burial records being put online he felt the use of volunteers could help speed up the process. 

"There’s such a body of work there to transcribe, I’m still going to push for the use of volunteers for the transcription of records," he said.