Grave concerns expressed over lack of space at Laois cemetery
St Peter and Paul's Cemetery, Portlaoise
PORTLAOISE cemetery is set to run out of space in the coming years.
The warning was delivered to a recent meeting of Portlaoise municipal district by cllr Catherine Fitzgerald.
However, according to an official representing Laois Co Council, there remains ample capacity at the cemetery for at least the next eight years, especially with the newly developed area: ‘‘Space remains in some of the older plot and in addition there are currently 64 inches available in the columbarium wall.’’ Countering this assertion, cllr Fitzgerald first requested a breakdown of the figures and then highlighted her own experience of visiting the cemetery.
Seeing the amount of people that have been buried in Portlaoise, cllr Fitzgerald highlighted how crowded the cemetery is and how a tract of the lower ground was so often waterlogged as to be rendered unusable in some instances.
Concerns about waterlogging in the cemetery were echoed by other councillors.
Even if the council’s anticipated capacity of over eight years was borne out, cllr Fitzgerald still advocated that, given the length of time it can take to get a cemetery project off the ground and eventually completed, that they start looking at developing the new plot, adding "because, in my own humble opinion, it won't last."
