Call for Covid ban on headstones in Dublin graveyards to be lifted

The council has barred stonemasons and monumental sculptors from working in its Deansgrange cemetery
The council has barred stonemasons and monumental sculptors from working in its Deansgrange cemetery

Cormac Devlin, Fianna Fail’s Dublin spokesman, has accused Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown county council of adding to the suffering of bereaved people by prohibiting work on headstones in its cemeteries, contrary to pandemic rules.

“These people have already been impacted by restrictions on the numbers attending funerals and now, to add insult to injury, find they cannot have the grave completed as they wish,” the Dun Laoghaire TD said.

“It’s the view of the minister for health and of the tanaiste that this work is deemed exempt from the restrictions, and the issue needs to be resolved urgently.”

The County and City Management Association of local authorities has instructed its members that “it is appropriate to facilitate the erection of headstones”
The County and City Management Association of local authorities has instructed its members that “it is appropriate to facilitate the erection of headstones”

The council has barred stonemasons and monumental sculptors from working in its cemeteries at Shanganagh and Deansgrange since December. The two graveyards cater for about three funerals a day.