Dirty nappies dumped on babies' graves in Laois
Some of the children's toys that were dumped at the Tonduff Cillín. Photo: James G. Carroll
A LARGE bag of dirty nappies was found dumped on babies’ graves this morning, to the disgust of locals who tend a sacred burial site in Laois.
The horrible discovery was made at Tonduff Cillín near Abbeyleix, where a memorial was erected last year to honour unbaptised babies who had been buried in unmarked graves at the site for generations.
The large sack of soiled nappies was discarded on the roadside edge of the cillín, together with a collection of unwanted children’s toys and play equipment.
The distressing find was made by local historian Noel Burke, a member of the Tonduff Cillín committee that tirelessly fundraised to install a memorial and maintain the site.
The discovery came just days after Noel found an entire sitting room suite, which was thrown into a roadside ditch on the Raheenabrogue road near Abbeyleix.
Posting photos on social media today, Noel said: ‘Illegal dumping has now reached a new low. What a weekend of bizarre, outlandish behaviour I came across no later than this morning, just on the outskirts of Abbeyleix at Tonduff Cillín, a site where many unbaptized babies were buried in the dark of night going back over a couple of hundred years.
‘On Saturday evening last, I first came across someone's pathetic attempt to dump their entire sitting suite over the ditch on the Raheenabrougue road. This is a road that joins the main Portlaoise and Abbeyleix/Ballyroan roads, approximately two kilometres outside the town of Abbeyleix.’
He continued: ‘Then this morning, I decided to travel over to the Tonduff Cillín site just to see if the snowdrops had made an appearance after the heavy fall of snow we’ve just had. Sure enough, the snowdrops had made an appearance at Tonduff but that unfortunately wasn't the only thing I found.
‘Somebody had decided during the night to take their unwanted children's toys and dump them on the sacred babies’ burial site at Tonduff, along with a big bag of dirty nappies.’
Both eyesores were cleared away with the help of John Ging from Laois County Council’s environment section.
Thanking him for the immediate response, Noel said: ‘John Ging from the LCC Environmental Patrol Unit came along and cleaned up this disgraceful mess. He also had the suite of furniture taken away from Raheenabrogue and disposed of properly.’
People can report littering or illegal dumping anywhere in the county to the council’s environment section at 057 8664000 or environadmin@laoiscoco.ie. Serious cases of illegal dumping can be reported to the EPA 24 hour phone service on lo-call 1800 365 123.
