Councillor’s cemetery dilemma

Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick, speaking at Saturday’s daily Downing Street briefing, said: “Funerals can go ahead with close family present.

“I’m also asking councils to keep open or indeed to reopen cemeteries and graveyards.. .for people to make that private visit and seek solace at the grave of someone you’ve loved or to privately lay flowers.

“There are times in my life when I have needed to do that. These are small steps, but small mercies can make a difference.”

Reflecting on these comments, Ulster Unionist Party councillor Julie Flaherty, who lost her two-year-old son in 2013, said: “What do these comments mean for me here in Portadown? What does that mean for me, a local UUP councillor here in ABC and what does that mean for me, a grieving mother who cannot presently visit her little son’s grave in the local cemetery?

“Today, here, these comments mean nothing. Today, the gates are padlocked. The cemetery is quiet.

“People have left flowers on the adjoining fences.”

She continued: “As a local UUP councillor I have a responsibility. I have a civic and a moral responsibility to do what is right for my area, to do what is right for my constituents, and at present, that means keeping them safe.

“That doesn’t mean it is easy. That doesn’t mean it is popular. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.

“It is difficult to understand and the decisions around cemeteries and funerals are deeply upsetting for many.

“I have found it very hard to take.”

Councilor Flaherty also said she has accepted the need to temporarily close council cemeteries.

“Stay at home we are told, protect the NHS, save lives,” she said.

“Closing our precious places of remembrance, our places of grief and of comfort has been desperately difficult to take. I might not have liked it but I have accepted it, for now.

“I have spoken to many very distressed families who, like me, have found this incredibly distressing.

“I can tell them I’m sorry, it will not be forever and have told them that when it is safe to do so, we will reopen.”

The Portadown representative also urged the Department of Communities to show leadership on this issue.

“Have we been given a chink of light in the darkness” wondered Cllr Flaherty. “If so, I call immediately on the Department of Communities to provide some leadership on this sensitive issue.

“We will have many dark days ahead as a community. We have long period of healing and recovery to face.

“If this can be done, it should be done. It is the right thing to do but it, like the opening of parks, must be done at the right time.”

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