Emerald Park apology over cemetery access blunder

Management at Emerald/Tayto Park have apologised for a series of mistakes that led to a number of local families being unable to access Kilbrew graveyard, which lies within the park, over Christmas.

"We feel terrible about what happened, particularly as some people had travelled a distance to visit the graves," said general manager, Charles Coyle.

"There are no excuses. There was a series of disasters on our part and we are sorry for every one.

"It is the first time anything like this ever happened. We actually improved access to the graveyard. We hope people will see it as a one off hiccup," he said.

Mr Coyle explained hat they had a skeleton staff working over Christmas. "We wanted to maintain security and closed over the gate put had a sign with a number to ring."

He said the gate would then open automatically. "I believe it worked well on 24th and 25th December but there was a problem on St Stephen's Day, when it wasn't opening but the staff didn't realise that. It was fixed and then another day the phone went dead," he said.

A number of local families with loved ones buried in the cemetery, were upset when they unable to visit their graves over the Christmas period.

The cemetery, which is several hundred years old, is located within the newly named Emerald Park, but there has always been local access to it.

"In December, they put in a barrier and a notice asking people to ring a number to gain access. When you rang, they opened it and you had access. Unfortunately on St Stephen’s Day, I went to visit my parents grave and there was no answer when I rang," said Sean Guiney, a local resident who maintains the cemetery.

"A number of people weren't able to access their graves, some of whom who had travelled a distance," he said.

"The park is usually very helpful to us and have supplied benches to us during the blessing of the graves," he said.

Cllr Joe Bonner said that people had been very upset when they couldn't access the graveyard and felt it disrespectful.

"There was always co operation between the local community and the park, so I would hate to see that goodwill lost," he said.

Mr Guiney (75), who regularly works to maintain the cemetery said it is believed it could be up to 1,000 years old. "There was an old church there that was taken down in 1895 and there is a Barnwell crypt in the cemetery that dates back to the 1600s. There are also a lot of underground tunnels in the area and there is a paupers grave beside the graveyard," he said.