*Drumcliffe Cemetery.
MEMORIALS are to be placed on four unmarked graves in Drumcliffe Cemetery.
Cllr Mary Howard (FG) has twice tabled motions this year before the Ennis Municipal District seeking the erection of permanent markers at the four unmarked graves in the St Bridget’s Section in Drumcliff Cemetery.
Tubber based Irish Natural Stone have “been with the putting in place of memorials to those who, in recent years, have been buried in Drumcliff without being identified. Work is in progress and should be completed shortly,” senior staff officer with the Ennis MD, Joe Spellissy confirmed.
Speaking at the November meeting of the Ennis MD, Cllr Howard outlined, “I used to put flowers there myself but now Ennis Tidy Towns do it twice a year. Me and maybe two other people know where the unmarked graves are. The wooden crosses have disintegrated. Please God, someday their families will know where their remains are”. Her proposal was seconded by Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF).
Raising the matter in March, Cllr Howard described Drumcliffe as “a very important part of our town”. She said she was initially aware of two unmarked graves at the cemetery but “discovered a third and fourth” when she became Chairperson of Ennis Tidy Towns. “One is a woman and the others don’t identify so I assume it is men, they are not necessarily suicides but have never been identified,” she explained.
“It is no skin off my nose maintaining these graves,” Cllr Howard admitted. She recalled Brian Flynn discussing the matter on Clare FM “years ago” which led to fundraiser for a headstone. “I have a thing about visiting these graves, there is great reassurance that people are visiting them so to me it is hugely important”. She said, “We don’t know their nationality or where they come from, I won’t be around forever so it is important we know where these graves are and that we remember these people”.
She was praised for raising the matter by Cllr Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF), “it is not something I was aware of, I look forward to visiting them”. “It is a very nice motion, it is a sympathetic motion, it reflects on us as society if we best respect those that have passed before us,” stated Colleran Molloy.
Responding to the matter in March, Spellissy stated, “A small number of graves in the newer Saint Bridgid’s section in Drumcliff Cemetery are the final resting place of people, who unfortunately have had to be buried without being identified. The Burial Grounds Unit will consider a more permanent memorialisation of each of those involved”.
