Milltown cemetery development criticised

A woman whose parents are buried in Belfast's Milltown cemetery has criticised the Catholic church for the way improvement work is being done.

Pauline Power said the graveyard looks more like a building site than a religious ground.

The church said necessary work was being carried out and it doesn't wish to cause any distress to the families of those buried there.

Part of the graveyard is being levelled and new grass seed planted.

Ms Power said she witnessed a digger drive through part of the cemetery on Thursday with little regard for the headstones or graves beneath.

"They've no regard for anyone that has been buried here, so to me the Catholic church must think that as these are old, old graves and the majority of their people no longer exist they can do whatever they want," she said.

"And it really isn't on, there are digger marks the whole way through all of these graves. Underneath the mud and the mess that they've left these are people's graves. You're supposed to respect the dead."

Ms Power has aunts and uncles buried in the cemetery as well as her parents and her grandmother who was interred there in 1929.

She is worried about how people will be able to get access to the graveyard.

"How do they expect people to even get in and out of here? This is just nothing but a building site. Plus I have a handicapped brother, how am I supposed to bring him through all this mess?

"Where people are buried it's supposed to be a place of dignity and respect to rest in peace. Where's the peace and dignity here?"

The Catholic church has provided a helpline for anyone who has any concerns about the work being done at Milltown Cemetery. The number is 028 90 61 3972.