Cemetery plan is rejected

AN BORD Pleanála has rejected plans to build a crematorium chapel and a car park at St Paul’s Cemetery in Glasnevin.

The proposal by Glasnevin Trust was granted permission by Dublin City Council in November but a campaign against the plan saw it appealed to the planning board.

The highly sensitive site is the burial ground for an estimated almost 4,000 bodies, mostly children and babies, some of whom were just a day old at death.

However, objecting to the plan local undertaker, Alan Harmon of Bourke’s Funeral Directors disputed the figures saying they represented less than 10 percent of the total number of people buried there.

Glasnevin Trust wanted to build a 1916 Citizens’ Chapel to serve as a permanent memorial to citizens who lost their lives in the Easter Rising.

The chapel was also to serve as a monument to all of those interred in unmarked or unpurchased graves in Glasnevin Cemetery.

The council initially rejected a similar proposal for the site but gave the green light to the latest plans, subject to a number of conditions, including that the development would disturb no grave.

The plan, which had secured Government funding of around €2 million, sparked anger amongst some locals, and Glasnevin Trust said that given the opposition to the concept, it would no longer proceed with the idea.

However, those opposed to the plans wanted An Bord Pleanála to officially reject the application, and last week they got their desired result.

Former Dublin Central TD and Labour Party Spokesperson on Urban Regeneration, Joe Costello welcomed the An Bord Pleanala decision.

“It was unconscionable that Dublin City Council granted permission for this development in November 2017,” he said.

“While Glasnevin Trust bowed to public pressure to withdraw, the proposal to build over the children’s graves, the planning permission would have remained intact for up to five years and the proposal could have been renewed at any time. 

“Thanks to the vigilance of Alan Harmon, the Bord Pleanala decision means that this cannot now happen.

“It was a total aberration to ever consider building a church and car park on this burial site.

“The Glasnevin Trust should landscape the site and establish it as an Angel’s Plot to commemorate the thousands of the poor children of Dublin who are buried there.”