Cllr Joe Bourke pleased that Templemore works agreements are being honoured by Tipp Co Co.

Templemore-based Fine Gael councillor Joe Bourke has said that he is pleased to see that work on year two of his agreement with staff of the council on Templemore graveyard will be soon completed.
“This was a three-year programme I agreed with council management when I was chairperson of the Templemore Thurles Roscrea area,” he said. “Year one saw the removal of the 150 year old dangerous trees that ran along Church Avenue in the graveyard.

Templemore Graveyard which also needs work to be done.

“These trees were extremely dangerous in stormy weather and could have blow on to Church Avenue or into the grave yard, causing damage or even loss of life.
“It was a major job to get these trees removed and thankfully the contractor employed to do the job completed this successfully.
“Year one also saw the removal of the boundary wall between the graveyard and the car park completed. This wall had very poor foundations and could have fallen at any time, especially at funeral time when people may be leaning against it. This was a serious health and safety issue and I’m glad to see it complete,” Cllr Bourke said.
He added that year two saw the removal of some of the wall between the public road and the car park which was replaced by a concrete wall. Drainage work in the car park is almost complete and work on the resurfacing of the car park will start next week - this will cause disruption for a week for people who use the car park as the resurfacing will take between two to three days to complete.
It will then have to be relined and this will take another day. “I think it will be a small price to pay for the end result,” Cllr Bourke said.
Year three will see the footpaths in the graveyard removed and replaced with new foot paths and it is also Cllr Bourke's intention, with the help of funding from the council, to set up a grave yard committee.
“This committee will be voluntary and will meet once a week for two hours. My own parents are buried in this graveyard and it would be my intention that we could get this graveyard to a standard you would love to visit.
“I’m also glad to see work on 100 metres of footpath in the park and paths in Woodville crescent complete this week. This is something I have been looking for for some time,” Cllr Bourke added.