Carlow County Council’s latest restrictions are putting grieving families “under pressure”, according to one of its elected members.
It comes after the local authority this week revealed that monumental sculptors can only carry out work in Council-owned burial grounds on a case-by-case basis.
Cllr John Cassin says many people who died during the pandemic still have no headstone on their graves as a result.
He’s been telling KCLR News “People are under pressure and they want to get headstones up before the first anniversary and they want works done and I suppose the monumental workers have their own protocols, their Covid19 protocols, they have their own health and safety, it’s separate to the council so there should be no issue with them going in and doing work they’re outside, they’re quite safe, I don’t think there’ve been any outbreaks of Covid19 in monumental workers, they should be left to work away”.
Cllr Cassin adds “Funerals haven’t been happening and at the start of the pandemic last year it was that a celebration of life would happen at a later date because we thought the pandemic wouldn’t go on as long and we were quite hopeful that after the first lockdown we would have flattened the curve but it seems it’s gone on for over a year and people then feel that culture’s not there for people so putting a headstone on a grave is one of the big things for people to get up before the first anniversary”.
