Tag Archives: undertakers

“AS a mainly rural people, we’ve always had a tradition of going to funerals to provide support and show sympathy, Covid-19 has forced us to make massive changes to that custom,” said Ennis-based undertaker, Cyril Cusack, commenting on one of the most challenging aspects of all of the current public health guidelines limiting gatherings and movement in the face of the Coronavirus. Reposals, hand-shakes and books of condolence have all been ruled out for the time being and the traditional funeral drawing huge number of mourners is a sight we are unlikely to see for some time. Detailed guidelines from the Health Service Executive (HSE) to funeral directors outline how social distancing must be implemented, meaning only private ceremonies for immediate family and friends are allowed. Despite the restrictions, Mr Cusack said families are handling the situation with dignity and grace at an extremely challenging time. “First of all, families have to deal with their shock and sometimes anger when …

A Lahinch county councillor has claimed that Clare County Council employees are “roaming” around North Clare, checking if graves are the required depth, which Councillor Bill Slattery has heard should now be eight-foot deep. Councillor Slattery has challenged the local authority to dig 10 eight-foot graves in Lahinch, where he says the rock formation mitigate against deep graves. “In recent times, a person was being buried and somebody came out and told them the coffin wasn’t down far enough,” Councillor Slattery claimed. “Was it someone from the council?” director of services, Ann Haugh asked. “I believe so. They couldn’t go down any further because they had met rock. They were down five-foot-nine and he said ‘ye better go down to eight foot. Those are the new guidelines.’ This was the morning of the funeral. The graveyards around here are all rock. Are there new EU guidelines or guidelines from the Department of Environment, as regards new requirements for burial grounds, …