County Councillors request €300 budget increase for burial ground maintenance

Members of the Tipperary County Council have put forward a motion this week for an extension to be given on the budget allocation for burial grounds across Tipperary.

The motion was put forward by Councillors Michael O’Meara, Fiona Bonfield, Phyll Bugler, John Carroll, Louise Morgan Walsh, Seamus Morris, JP O’Meara, and Pamela Quirke O’Meara.

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The motion was proposed by Cllr Michael O’Meara and seconded by Cllr John Carroll.

Currently, the budget allocation for burial grounds in Tipperary, allocated by the Tipperary County Council, stands at €700.

Under this proposal, the Councillors are seeking for this budget to be expanded to €1,000.

Cllr Michael O’Meara spoke of how a new policy on burial ground care was adopted in April of this year, and that ever since, finding volunteers to tend to the graveyards is becoming increasingly more difficult.

He likened the maintenance of a graveyard to that of a small Tidy Towns committee.

He mentioned that an increase of €300 to bring the budget up to €1,000 is a conservative amount of money, but he believes that it is a starting point.

The total amount needed in order to increase the budget per burial ground to €1,000, he says, is €72,000.

Cllr O’Meara said that he felt this was a miniscule amount of money in the grand scheme of things in order to improve facilities across the county, owing to the great levels of importance and significance that these burial grounds have on local communities.

He stated that the amount of work that those who tend to the sites put in is far more valuable than €1,000, and that increasing the funding would be one of the best ways the County Council could look to spend their money.

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Cllr John Carroll agreed with the sentiments made by Cllr O’Meara, also stating that there are people in local communities who often spend their own money on graveyard maintenance, due to the importance of the burial grounds on these communities.

Cllr Carroll also stated that less important areas could be looked at in terms of overspending, with the potential intent of reallocating funds towards burial ground maintenance.

Cllr John O’Heney fully supported the motion, adding that the burial grounds cost far more to maintain than they are allocated financially, and echoing the sentiment that volunteers are becoming harder to find.

Cllr Phyll Bugler also agreed with the motion, adding that €1,000 is the minimum amount that the budget should be set at.

Cllr Máirín McGrath supported the motion, stating that it is important that these matters be treated fairly.

Cllr Willie Kennedy added that he had raised this point at the most recent meeting of the Thurles Municipal District of the Tipperary County Council, reiterating his frustration at being told it was not possible to allow for this change to happen this year, as the funds are not in the budget, and stating that he felt the €700 allocation is “pittance.”

The Councillors were told that, upon assessment, the total budget increase to allow for a €1,000 budget per burial ground would be closer to €110,000, and that it would not be possible to increase the budget for 2025, but that the request would be analysed and considered for inclusion in the 2026 budget.