Upfront burial fee Tipperary County Council plan is stalled despite over €100,000 outstanding

A Tipperary County Council plan to bring in a pay upfront policy for graveyard burials has stalled.
A sum of €109,315 is owed to the local authority in relation to grave sales, burial fees or any other outstanding monies in relation to council owned graveyards.
The information was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by The Nationalist.
The €109,315 amount accounts for outstanding funds as of October 31, 2021.
In October last grieving families in Tipperary’s main towns feared they would have to pay council burial fees up front before their loved ones’ funerals unless issues between Tipperary County Council and undertakers over controversial legal agreements were not resolved.
At the time, funeral directors in Tipperary Town and Cashel were issued an ultimatum directing that interment fees must be paid before funerals if the undertakers don’t enter into a formal legal agreement with the local authority in relation to their payment.
The same policy was also expected to be introduced in Clonmel, Cahir and Carrick and would apply to council graveyards.
However, the policy has not yet been introduced in Tipperary and Cashel and it has not been extended to other towns.
Meetings between undertakers and council representatives were due to take place but they did not materialise and no arrangements have been made to conduct those meetings.
The brunt of the uproar at the time was felt in Cashel and Tipperary and there is some relief among those that were most concerned that no attempt has been made to introduce the new policy.
Deputy Martin Browne welcomed the fact that the council has not proceeded with the plan. “Following Tipperary County Council’s recent announcement that they intended to place undue responsibility on undertakers to ensure payment of burial and grave fees to the local authority, I welcome the fact that they have not yet adopted the hard-line stance initially indicated,” said Deputy Browne.
“I understand that the council has yet to hold a meeting with the undertakers but intends to do so, which I welcome.
“It would be hard to imagine that Tipperary County Council would enforce this inflexible position on local undertakers before properly engaging with them,” he added.
Deputy Browne said the council had the right to expect to recoup what it was owed but maintained that it would be wrong to effectively transfer responsibility to the undertakers to ensure debts owed to the council were paid ahead of the burial.
“Enforcing this kind of system as the council originally outlined would also have been incredibly stressful for grieving families. I believe that the council does not want to add to that grief, and I welcome the fact that it has, for the time being, taken a more measured approach,” said Deputy Browne.
“In my opinion, facilitating a payments scheme for outstanding debts would be of more help to the council in recouping the €109,315 it is owed, rather than adopting an approach that has the support of no-one,” added Deputy Browne.
Tipperary Town’s Cllr Tony Black said the recent announcement by the council created a situation in which local undertakers were caught in the middle between grieving families and the local authority.
“While it is understandable that the local authority needs to recoup monies owed from funerals, this doesn’t mean the pressure should fall solely on undertakers and funeral directors,” said Cllr Black.
“The time for discussion is now and a solution that everyone can work with is needed,” he added.

Six steps you can take to shop safely and avoid online fraud during sales