Call for wider probe into cause of Navan cemetery flooding

Calls are being made for a wider investigation into flooding in St Finian"s Cemetery in Navan before Meath County Council carries out works to raise the level of part of the graveyard. In a statement issued this week, the council said that, following the very wet weather over the past two years, it acknowledged that there are particularly wet areas in the cemetery that need to be addressed. To facilitate burials in all types of weather, it plans to raise an area in the east of the cemetery which will allow new plots and burials to take place on elevated ground above the water table. The council has added that no drainage works will be carried out. However, Cllr Christy Reilly has said that a wider investigation into the flooding is needed. He said he is not satisfied with the council"s explanation for the flooding or its proposals for alleviating the problems at the Athboy Road cemetery. The Navan councillor is asking when the land for the cemetery was purchased and whether a survey of the land was carried out before a final decision was made on the purchase. He has also asked why the possible flooding was not foreseen by anyone in the council and asked how is it known that the latest proposed works will solve the problem. 'The council needs to come forward with a more comprehensive answer to these questions before any work is carried out,' he said. Cllr Reilly said that bereaved families had approached him about conditions at the cemetery. 'They were very put out that their loved ones had to be buried in graves which were subject to flooding. I know that straw was put down to try to soak up the water in the graves but I would not be happy with that situation,' he said. Olive Falsey, the council"s liasion officer for the project, said they have written to everyone who has a plot in St Finian"s Cemetery to inform them about the works. She added they wanted to assure everyone concerned that the works will not impact on existing graves and will not hinder visits to the cemetery by bereaved relatives and friends. 'We would also like to advise families with existing plots that they may, if they wish, and if space permits, continue to bury deceased family members in existing or adjacent plots,' said Ms Falsey. Navan Mayor Padraig Fitzsimons, an undertaker in the town, said the council would be raising an area of the graveyard to the left of where burials are presently taking place so that the water levels would not be so high and to make for 'easier burials'. Cllr Fitzsimons said he understood that, in parts, the level will be raised by a metre and a half and, in other areas, it would be half a metre because of the gradient and that it will all be level. He said the area has always been quite wet and that, because of the two bad summers and winters, the water table had stayed quite high and there was no drying out during the summer. 'You would have to wonder if a proper drainage survey was done and who was responsible,' he added. 'It may well have been a poor area to have the site, though hindsight is a great thing.' Cllr Fitzsimons said the bad weather seems to have contributed and that the problem seemed to have got worse in the last year or two. He said that many other graveyards would be damp. Sometimes, the grave-diggers put straw down if there was some mud at the bottom of a grave. Cllr Fitzsimons also explained that if the area was particularly wet, they would not dig as deep.