Cork City Council to maintain ban on advance purchase of graves

Cork City Council has no plans to amend its rules for cemeteries to allow people to buy graves before they die.

Sinn Féin councillor Kenneth Collins placed a motion before a recent meeting of the local authority saying that though the existing policy on the sale of graves exists for valid reasons, “people have genuine reasons for purchasing graves prior to their own passing”.

Mr Collins said he was contacted by a man in his 80s whose wife had passed away, and was hoping to buy a plot to ensure he could be buried alongside her. 

However, under current council policy, people cannot buy a grave for a person who is not yet deceased.

He asked the council to review the existing policy and “develop a scheme that will allow for the reservation of grave sites by individuals for their own use prior to their passing, while ensuring grave sites are not resold for profit”.

The council’s director of local area development and operations, John Stapleton, said: “For the past 20 years or so, the city council has an immediate burial policy in place across all its cemeteries, with no advance purchase allowed. 

“Prior to that, our experience was that a large proportion of plots were being pre-purchased by those with the means to fund, which had an obvious negative impact on those who were not in a position to do so at the time.

“The policy has extended the life of the cemeteries and allowed for an orderly development of each burial ground. Given this, it is not considered appropriate to amend the policy.”

Another motion, by Independent councillor Albert Deasy, to ban dogs from graveyards, was also discussed. 

Mr Deasy called for the council to recognise "the nuisance and upset caused by uncontrolled dogs in burial grounds" and prepare an amendment to the cemetery bye-laws to prohibit dogs, with the exception of guide dogs, from entering council–managed burial grounds. 

Mr Stapleton said current byelaws specify that a dog must be kept on a lead in public parks and cemeteries.