Columbarium wall set to be installed in Coosan
A columbarium wall – for the storage of cremation ashes – is set to be installed in Coosan cemetery soon, the first in the Athlone area.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, who has been pushing for the wall to be provided for some time, has welcomed the news that it's now going ahead.
"I am delighted that the wishes of many people can finally be met and that we are now moving with the times. I expect the columbarium wall to be in place very soon, certainly before the summer.
"A columbarium is an area used to store the ashes of the deceased who have been cremated. Those ashes are kept in urns and the urns are placed inside compartments, within the columbarium. The columbarium itself can be either a wall or a room. In the case of Coosan, it will be a wall structure,” he explained.
Many graveyards will need a columbarium wall and 'ash plots' in the future given the increasing numbers opting for cremation, and it seen as an issue local authorities will have to plan for in the years ahead.
A columbarium wall expected to be installed in Ballyglass cemetery, outside Mullingar, by the end of March. The feature is growing in number countrywide, with several already in place in Kerry, Dublin, Wicklow and Laois,
Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, who recently travelled to St Peter & Paul's Cemetry in Portlaoise to see a newly installed columbarium wall, said Fianna Fáil Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald has put a lot of work in to delivering this facility for the people of the county and it is being widely used.
"I have been contacted myself by more than a dozen families in the past year, from the Athlone area, looking for a facility like this for Athlone.
"Many people have the ashes of their loved ones in urns at home but in many cases now families are looking for a final, permanent resting place for their loved one in a cemetery.
“As with a grave, a columbarium wall is a place where the remains of loved ones are kept, it is seen as sacred, and thus treated with the same respect and reverence," he added.
Cllr O'Rourke thanked Denis Sloyan, Westmeath County Council Engineer for his assistance with this important project.